I-NRLF 


B 


am 


NATIONAL     HYMNS. 


HOW  THEY  ARE  WRITTEN  AND   HOW  THEY  ARE  NOT 
WRITTEN 


A  LYEIC  AND  NATIONAL    STUDY  FOK  THE  TIMES 


BY 
RICHARD     GRANT    WHITE 


NEW    YORK: 
RUDD   &   CARLETON,    130   GRAND   STREET 

AND 

GEORGE  W.  ELLIOTT,  39  WALKER  STREET. 
M  DCCC  LXI. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1861,  by 

BUDD   &  CABLETOST, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern 
District  of  New  York. 


B.    CKAIGHBAD, 

Printer,  Stereotyper,  and  Electrotyper, 

Caiton  JJutlTrittg, 

81,  83,  and  85  Centre  Street. 


To 

MOSES      H.     GR  INN  ELL, 

THIS   SLIGHT   TOKEN 

OF  ADMIRATION  OF  HIS  ABILITIES,  OF    HONOR  FOR  HIS  PATRIOTISM, 
AND    OF   HIGH   PERSONAL   REGARD. 


M151291 


THE  Committee  upon  a  National  Hymn  placed  some 
of  the  "  most  meritorious"  and  otherwise  "  noticeable  " 
songs  received  by  them  in  the  hands  of  Messrs.  Rudd  & 
Carleton  for  publication  under  my  editorial  care.  There 
were  very  few  of  these — not  thirty,  all  told  ;  and  those 
which  were  remarkable  for  lyric  excellence  were  gra 
dually  so  reduced  in  numbers  by  the  withdrawal  of 
manuscripts  by  their  authors,  that  after  a  while  the 
original  project  was  abandoned. 

Of  all  the  motives  which  may  have  induced  a  with 
drawal  of  consent  to  publication,  or  a  withholding  of  it 
where  it  was  reasonably  expected,  it  is  not  necessary,  or, 
indeed,  proper,  here  to  speak.  Upon  such  a  point  every 
author  has  not  only  the  right  of  deciding  for  himself, 
but  of  doing  so  unquestioned.  It  is  proper,  however,  to 
say  that  in  some  instances  consent  to  publication  was 
refused  owing  to  the  disposition  shown  by  many  com 
petitors  to  make  themselves  disagreeable,  and  to  say  as 
many  unpleasant  things  as  their  ingenuity  could  devise 
about  the  committee  and  its  doings.  As  some,  though 


Vlll 


by  no  means  all,  of  the  best  songs  were  written  by 
authors  of  reputation,  it  was  natural  that  a  part  of  these, 
at  least,  should  shrink  from  exposure  to  the  threatened 
consequences.  One  of  them  remarked,  "  If  I  were  at  the 
beginning  of  my  career,  I  should  not  mind  such  talk ; 
but  as  it  is  plain  that  everything  ill-natured  that  can  be 
said  is  to  be  said,  I  had  rather  not  put  myself  into  such 
a  pillory."  It  is  right  also  to  add  that  this  pitiful  con 
duct  was  exhibited  invariably  by  those  competitors  who 
had  no  claim  whatever  to  special  consideration.  Cer 
tain  of  the  hymns  which  would  otherwise  have  been 
published  were  withdrawn  by  their  authors  in  a  very 
courteous  and  good-natured  manner;  but  the  people 
who  talked  and  fumed,  who  wearied  the  members  of 
the  committee  with  calls  and  letters  of  remonstrance 
and  inquiry,  who  waylaid  them  in  the  streets,  who 
entered  the  office  of  the  publishers  big  with  bombast 
and  terrible  with  threats — some,  if  their  verses  were 
published,  some,  if  they  were  not — were  invariably 
those  whose  manuscripts  had  fallen  on  the  first  read 
ing  dead  into  the  waste  basket,  leaving  not  even  a 
trace  behind  them  in  the  memory  to  aid  a  guess  at  what 
their  incensed  authors  were  raving  about. 

But  although  the  notion  of  publishing  the  projected 
volume  was  therefore  given  up,  it  was  afterwards 
thought  by  some  of  those  who  had  been  interested  in 
the  undertaking  that  some  discussion  of  the  subject  of 
national  hymns,  with  an  account  of  the  origin  and  pro 
ceedings  of  the  committee  in  question,  illustrated  by 
songs  selected  in  part  from  those  which  had  been  left 
at  the  disposal  of  the  committee  would  be  acceptable  to 
many  persons ;  and  therefore  I  have  given  a  few  days 
to  the  preparation  of  this  little  book.  For  it  I  only  am 


IX 


responsible.  I  have  not  the  right,  had  I  the  desire,  to 
claim  the  support  of  any  of  my  colleagues  for  a  single 
opinion  set  forth  in  it.  In  scope,  it  has  falsified  the 
Horatian  warning  as  to  the  unexpected  issue  of  the  turn 
ing  wheel.  I  undertook  only  a  few  pages  of  introduc 
tory  remarks  and  narrative ;  but  my  work  grew  under 
my  hand,  and  the  result,  though  still  a  trifle,  is  some 
thing  more,  as  well  as  something  other,  than  that  which 
I  sat  down  to  write.  If  many  of  my  readers  find  in  the 
little  book  only  what  they  had  already  learned,  I 
shall  be  pleased  that  I  address  so  well-informed  a 
circle;  and  let  them  be  thankful  that  they  know  SO 
much  more  than  their  neighbors.  If  any  intelligent 
reader  disapproves  of  what  is  here  written,  he  will  owe 
me  something  for  having  furnished  him  with  a  topic  of 
elegant  social  discussion  with  some  other  more  intel 
ligent  reader  who  approves.  The  more  animated  and 
general  the  dispute,  the  better  for  the  publishers,  who 
have  invested  money  in  paper  which  might  have  made 
cartridges,  and  type  which  might  have  done  service  as 
bullets. 

I  have  some  friends  in  England,  and  more  in  Ame 
rica,  who  know  the  deep  and  abiding  love  and  reve 
rence  I  have  for  all  that  is  good,  and  great,  and  honor 
able  in  English  character,  in  English  history  and 
letters — and  there  is  so  much  of  it— and  how  I  prize 
my  English  birthright.  These  may  wonder  at  some 
passages  in  this  little  volume,  until  they  reflect  a  moment 
upon  the  very  obvious  fact,  that  those  passages  do  not 
touch  upon  what  I  regard  as  lovely  and  venerable  in  the 
English  character,  or — as  I  am  at  once  glad  and  sorry 
to  say — as  essentially  English  at  all.  So,  too,  I  have 
friends  among  my  Southern  fellow-citizens  who  know 


that  although  I  believe,  with  some  Southern  states 
men,  whose  names  are  favorably  known  to  the  world, 
that  slavery  is  a  wrong  and  an  evil,  I  am  neither  Abo 
litionist  nor  "Black"  Republican;  and  whom,  if 
they  are  surprised  at  anything  I  have  written,  I  would 
remind  that  what  the  men  who  control  the  South 
are  now  fighting  for  is  something  that  has  never 
brought  honor  to  any  nation,  and  which  has  been  long 
the  reproach  of  this  country  throughout  civilized  Chris 
tendom.  Reproach  which  we  who  were  in  no  sense 
justly  open  to  it  have  yet  borne  for  the  sake  of  brother 
hood,  and  the  ultimate  benefit  of  our  country  and  the 
world ;  and  which  we  are  willing  still  to  bear,  so  long 
as  they  who  inflict  the  wrong  and  hug  the  evil,  do  not 
insist  upon  our  sharing  their  fearful  responsibility. 

This,  however,  not  by  way  of  apology,  or  even 
deprecation.  I  have  not  one  word  to  take  back  or  to 
regret.  But  I  do  ask  the  reader's  pardon  for  detain 
ing  him  so  long  here,  while,  like  an  over-anxious  host,  I 
press  upon  him  half  my  entertainment  at  the  threshold. 

K.  a,  w, 

NEW  YORK,  Sept.  16th,  1861. 


NATIONAL    HYMNS. 


IN  the  Spring  of  the  present  year  a  new  want  began 
to  be  felt  in  this  country.  The  batteries  with  which 
the  faithful  commander  of  Fort  Sumter  had,  with 
silent  guns,  seen  himself  surrounded  during  four  long 
months,  opened  fire  upon  the  national  flag  floating 
from  a  military  post  of  the  United  States,  and  he  and 
his  handful  of  brave  soldiers  were  burned  out  of  the 
strong-hold  from  which  it  does  not  appear  that  they 
could  have  otherwise  been  driven.  Indignation  flashed 
through  the  astonished  land ;  and  the  loyal  citizens  of 
the  Republic  rose  as  one  man  to  avenge  the  wrong  and 
defend  the  national  existence.  The  whole  country 
quivered  with  a  new  emotion.  Men  lived  in  the  open 


12  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

air  that  they  might  read  in  each  other  s  faces,  eye  to 
eye,  the  noble  wrath,  the  fixed  determination,  the  lofty 
purpose  that  ruled  the  hour.  Two  could  hardly  speak 
together  in  the  street  above  their  ordinary  tone  with 
out  being  surrounded  by  eager  listeners.  Every  public 
place  was  thronged  by  unbidden  crowds,  intent  upon 
the  discussion  of  the  momentous  situation  ;  and  more 
formal  meetings,  numbering  from  hundreds  to  tens  of 
thousands,  were  common.  A  nation  of  freemen* 
each  one  of  whom  felt,  at  last,  his  own  responsi 
bility  for  his  country's  safety  and  honor,  was  pierced 
through  brain  and  heart  with  the  barbed  conviction 
that  that  safety  was  in  peril,  and  that  honor  was  at 
stake. 

Party  barriers  fell  as  if  by  magic  ;  and  we  all  found 
ourselves  side  by  side  with  one  feeling,  one  purpose, 
forgetful  of  the  past,  absorbed  in  the  present  and  the 
future.  Patriotism,  which  had  been  trodden  under 
the  feet  of  politicians,  which  had  withered  in  the 
\  arid  soil  of  selfishness  under  the  blazing  sun  of  pros- 
i  perity,  which  had  been  choked  with  the  thorns  of 
care,  and  wealth,  and  pleasure,  struck  at  once  its 
roots  to  the  very  centre  of  the  nation's  being,  and  in 
a  single  night  blossomed  into  fruitfulness.  That  fruit 
was  a  stern  resolution  to  sacrifice  life  and  fortune  in 
defence  of  the  republic.  But  stern  although  it  was, 
there  was  mixed  with  it  no  hatred,  no  vindictive- 
ness.*  The  insurgents  were  enemies  only  in  so  far 

*  "I  hare  nowhere  in  the  North,"  said  the  late  Secretary  of  "War, 
Mr.  Holt  of  Kentucky,  in  his  New  York  speech  of  September  3rd, 
''  found  any  feeling  of  exasperation  against  the  people  of  the  South." 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  13 

as  they  were  enemies  of  the  republic  for  which  their 
fathers  and  ours  had  toiled,  and  fought,  and  died  toge 
ther.  The  resentment  was  pure  of  all  personality, 
and  consistent  with  all  charity  and  individual  good 
will.  Nay,  it  was  mingled  with  sorrow  and  pity  for 
men  and  brethren,  whose  judgment  had  been  so 
blinded,  and  whose  moral  sense  had  been  so  perverted 
by  the  holding  of  an  inferior  race  in  slavery,  as  to 
enable  trading  politicians,  disappointed  or  fearing  dis 
appointment,  to  prepare  them  for,  and  finally  lead 
them  into  a  rebellion  against,  what  one  of  them 
selves  has  well  styled,  "  the  most  beneficent  govern 
ment  the  world  ever  saw :"  a  rebellion,  unsupported 
even  by  the  slightest  prospective  danger  to  slavery 
wherever  it  was  made  locally  secure  by  the  organic 
compact  of  the  nation,  but  having  for  its  sole  motive 
the  determination,  either  to  make  the  interest  of  slavery 
dominant  in  this  country,  and  to  pervert  the  flag  of 
this  free  republic  to  the  protection  of  inchoate  slave 
communities,  or  to  rend  and  ruin  the  great  nation  in 
which  that  interest  had  ceased  to  rule. 

This  purpose  was  regarded  as  a  wicked  one  ;  but  it 
was  the  sin  that  was  hated,  not  the  sinners ;  and,  to 
illustrate  this  period  by  glancing  forward  from  it — if 
the  national  forces,  instead  of  succumbing  to  their 
humiliating  and  causeless  panic  at  Manassas  Junction, 
had  been  able  to  follow  up  and  complete  their  first 
well  won  success,  there  would  have  been  joy,  indeed, 
throughout  the  loyal  States ;  but  no  exultation,  no 
triumph,  no  festivities,  no  illuminations  would  have 
celebrated  that  victory.  Government  would  have  but 


14  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

performed  one  of  its  gravest  functions ;  loyal  citizens 
would  have  but  absolved  themselves  of  one  of  their 
highest  duties;  deserving  therefore,  however,  none 
the  less,  the  gratitude  of  their  country  than  if  they 
had  protected  its  interests,  its  honor,  or  even  its  exist 
ence  against  a  foreign  foe.  The  feeling  thus  awak 
ened,  though  so  considerate  and  so  placable,  was  yet 
enthusiastic.  The  fire  of  patriotism  never  burned 
with  purer,  brighter,  or  intenser  flame,  than  in  the 
breasts  of  the  Americans  who  were  so  startled  by  the 
guns  of  Sumter. 

Such  was  the  feeling  of  the  hour ;  and  with  such 
emotions  glowing  in  their  breasts,  men  met  conti 
nually  in  greater  or  smaller  assemblages,  where,  alter 
nately  relieved  and  excited  by  each  other's  eloquence 
— for  then  the  simplest  utterance  of  patriotism  seemed 
eloquent — there  was  yet  one  want  most  sorely  felt. 
A  national  hymn  was  lacking.  The  strong  feeling 
of  great  numbers  always  tends  to  utterance  in  song. 
Music  is  the  universal  language  of  emotion.  It  is 
/  that  in  which,  with  rare  exceptions,  all  can  give  vent 
to  excitement,  that  without  it  must  be  repressed. 
Men  will  sing  what  they  would  be  shamefaced  to  say. 
Music  has  the  twofold  effect  of  stimulating  and  re 
lieving  the  grand  passions  of  the  soul. 

But  no  little  of  its  power  in  awakening  sentiment 
and  keeping  it  alive,  is  derived  from  its  association 
with  words  or  with  events.  There  was  no  particular 
89sthetic  reason  why  the  brave,  calm  English  soldiers 
should  sing  "  Annie  Laurie  "  in  their  cheerless  camp 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  15 

before  Sevastopol,  and  weep  while  they  sang  or  lis 
tened.  There  are  other  ballads  just  as  sweet  as  that 
sweet  ballad,  as  there  are  other  girls  as  dear  as  Annie 
Laurie  ;  but  it  happened  to  be  a  favorite  in  England 
when  the  war  broke  out ;  it  mingled  with  the  memo 
ries  of  fading  Dover  cliffs,  and  told  those  tearful, 
bearded  heroes  of  the  girls  they  had  left  behind  them. 
The  Swiss  herdsmen's  songs  are  beautiful ;  but  the 
songs  that  Mozart  wrote  are  far  more  beautiful, 
with  a  beauty  higher,  tenderer,  more  essential,  more 
enduring.  Yet  the  strains  of  the  herdsman  never  die 
out  of  a  Switzer's  ear,  and  ever  call  him  back  to  his 
mountain  home  with  sad  imperiousness,  while  he  is 
content  to  admire  Mozart  wherever  he  can  hear  him 
to  the  best  advantage.  It  is  not  safe  to  measure  the 
power  of  music  by  the  effects  that  it  produces,  or  to 
trust  to  the  genuineness  of  feeling  exhibited  under  its 
influence.  So  many  dull  ears  and  honest  hearts 
think  that  they  are  enjoying  music  when  they  are  only 
resting  their  heads  once  more  in  their  mothers'  laps, 
or  trembling  again  with  the  sweet  tumults  of  their 
first  passion ;  so  many  sensitive  organizations  think 
that  they  are  wrapt  in  the  fervor  of  religious  worship, 
when  they  are  but  spell-bound  by  the  enchanting 
strains  of  Haydn  or  of  Cherubini. 

Music  affords  a  pleasure  neither  purely  intellectual 
nor  purely  sensual.  More  than  any  other  art,  more 
than  any  other  means  of  impressing  the  human 
organization,  it  addresses  itself  to  man's  entire  nature. 
With  those  who  really  feel  its  power,  it  takes  mind 
and  soul,  and  sense  all  captive.  It  does  not  refine ; 


1 6  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

it  does  not  elevate ;  it  does  not  strengthen.  It  leaves 
the  moral  nature  quite  untouched.  It  has  no  moral, 
nay,  no  intellectual  influence  whatever.  Pages  of 
weak  sentiment  and  fallacious  speculation  have  been 
written  upon  the  contrary  assumption ;  volumes  of 
nonsense  have  been  talked  and  retalked,  in  ever 
diluting  and  re-diluting  feebleness.  Some  of  the 
greatest  scoundrels  that  ever  lived,  some  of  the 
feeblest  intellects,  some  of  the  most  grovelling  souls, 
have  possessed  not  only  the  finest  and  most  sensitive 
musical  organizations,  but  the  most  exquisite  musical 
taste  ;  have  thrilled  themselves,  and  have  sent  respon 
sive  thrills  through  throngs  of  cultivated  hearers  by 
the  mere  spell  of  their  own  voices.  Where  are  there 
pettier  jealousies  or  fiercer  hates  than  among  musi 
cians? — private  or  public,  it  makes  no  difference. 
Not  by  reason  of  their  art,  but  altogether  in  spite  of  it. 
It  does  absolutely  nothing  towards  the  elevation  of 
intellectual  tone,  or  the  mitigation  of  moral  deform 
ity.  Let  any  man  ask  himself  if  he  ever  spoke  the 
more  kindly  to  a  shivering  beggar,  or  was  tenderer  of 
the  feelings  of  a  friend  because  he  had  just  turned  his 
back  upon  the  opera-house  and  was  still  palpitating 
with  the  exquisite  pleasure  of  hearing  Alboni's  Ah 
non  credea.  We  are  told  that  the  angels  sing  in 
heaven  ;  but  were  not  the  Sirens  monsters  from  below 
the  lungs?  and  do  men  need  to  lash  themselves 
to  masts  to  keep  from  rushing  heavenward  ?  Some 
times  it  seems  as  if  the  Poets  were  wiser  than  the 
Apostles. 

But  Music,  we  know  not  why,  is  both  a  relief  and 


NA  TIONAL  HYMNS.  / 1 7 

—  A 
a  stimulus  to  all  emotion.     It  originates  no  sentiment, 

it  develops  none ;  but  it  quickens  and  subtilizes  the 
action  of  all  that  are  in  being.  Jt  is  not  food  for  the 
soul,  but  wine.  So  with  national  music :  patriotism 
must  exist  before  patriotic  songs  are  written.  No 
man  was  ever  brought  to  love  his  country  by  the 
music  to  which  his  countrymen  sang  their  devotion. 
But  if  that  heroic  sentiment  does  dwell  within  his 
breast,  either  he  is  exceptional  among  his  kind,  or  his 
country  in  its  fortunes,  if  there  do  not  arrive  occasions 
when  his  whole  soul  yearns  for  musical  expression. 
^Patriotic  feeling,  like  all  other  feeling  excited  by  any 
)  unusual  incident,  seeks  utterance  in  verse  and  music ; 
and  thus  a  national  hymn  seems  almost  as  indispensa 
ble  an  appanage  of  nationality  as  a  national  flag. 
One  of  the  first  indications  of  an  incipient  revolution 
in  France  is  the  singing  of  the  Marseillaise  Hymn ; 
and  one  of  the  first  steps  taken  to  restrain  the  out 
break  is  the  suppression  of  the  song.  Only  a  few 
months  ago  the  Poles,  charged  and  fired  upon  by  the 
Eussian  troops,  as  they  assembled  to  present  a  petition 
in  Warsaw,  fell  upon  their  knees,  and  sang  their 
national  hymn  ;  thus  fortifying  themselves  to  endure 
an  attack  which  they  were  powerless  to  repel. 

And  so  when  loyal  Americans  assembled  in  those 
dark  days  of  the  Republic  which  immediately  fol 
lowed  the  bombardment  of  Fort  Sumter,  they  longed 
to  sing ;  but  there  was  no  song  suited  to  them  or  to 
the  occasion.  "  The  Star-Spangled  Banner"  had  been 
growing  in  favor  in  the  loyal  States  from  the  begin 
ning  of  the  secession  movement,  and  was  played  con- 


18  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

tinually  by  all  military  and  orchestral  bands,  and 
sung  often  at  concerts  and  private  musical  gatherings. 
f~TBut  as  a  patriotic  song  for  the  people  at  large,  as  the 
National  Hymn,  it  was.  found  to  be  almost  useless. 
The  range  of  the  air,  an  octave  and  a  half,  places  it 
out  of  the  compass  of  ordinary  voices;  and  no  change 
that  has  been  made  in  it  has  succeeded  in  obviating 
this  paramount  objection,  without  depriving  the 
music  of  that  characteristic  spirit  which  is  given 
by  its  quick  ascent  through  such  an  extended  range 
of  notes. 

The  words,  too,  are  altogether  unfitted  for  a  national 
hymn.  They  are  almost  entirely  descriptive,  and  of  a 
particular  event.  Such  lines  as  these  have  not  a  suf 
ficiently  general  application  for  a  national  hymn ;  they 
paint  a  picture,  they  do  not  embody  a  sentiment : — 

"  On  the  shore  dimly  seen  through  the  mists  of  the  deep, 
•    Where  the  foe's  haughty  host  in  dread  silence  reposes, 
What  is  that  which  the  breeze  o'er  the  towering  steep 

As  it  fitfully  blows,  half  conceals,  half  discloses  ? 
Now  it  catches  the  gleam  of  the  morning's  first  beam. 
In  full  glory  reflected,  now  shines  on  the  stream." 

The  lines  are,  also,  too  long,  and  the  rhyme  too 
involved  for  a  truly  popular  patriotic  song.  They  tax 
the  memory :  they  should  aid  it.  The  rhythm,  too,  is 
complicated,  and  often  harsh  and  vague. 

"  Oh !  thus  be  it  ever  when  free  men  shall  stand 

Between  their  loved  home,  and  the  war's  desolation  ; 
Blest  with  victory  and  peace,  may  the  Heaven-rescued  land 
Praise  the  power  that  hath  made  and  preserved  us  a  nation." 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  19 

In  fact,  only  the  choral   lines   of    this   song   have 
brought  it  into  general  favor. 

"  And  the  Star-Span gled  Banner  in  triumph  shall  wave 
O'er  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave." 


But  even  in  regard  to  this,  who  cannot  but  wish 
that  the  spangles  could  be  taken  out,  and  a  good, 
honest  flag  be  substituted  for  the  banner ! 

"  The  Star-Spangled  Banner,"  though  for  these  rea 
sons  so  utterly  inadequate  to  the  requirements  of  a 
national  hymn  that  the  people  stood  mute  while  in 
some  instances  it  was  sung  by  a  single  voice,  or  in 
most  cases  it  was  only  played  by  a  band,  is  yet  far 
the  best  of  the  three  songs  which,  for  lack  of  better, 
have  until  now  been  called  American  national  airs. 
Of  the  other  two,  Yankee  Doodle  has  the  claim  of 
long  association,  and  will  probably  always  retain  a 
certain  degree  of  a  certain  kind  of  favor.  But  no 
sane  person  would  ever  dream  of  regarding  it  as  a 
national  hymn.  Its  words,  as  all  know  who  have  ever 
heard  them,  are  mere  childish  burlesque  ;  and  its  air, 
if  air  it  must  be  called,  is  as  comical  as  its  words,  and 
can  hardly  be  regarded  as  being  properly  music.  To 
set  serious  or  even  earnest  words  to  this  grotesque 
tune,  would  be  only  to  excite  laughter  by  absurd 
incongruity.  It  has  been  attempted ;  and  the  best 
result  appears  in  the  following  spirited  verses,  in 
which  the  author  of  "  The  New  Priest  at  Conception 
Bay  "  commemorated  the  encounter  of  the  Sixth  Mas 
sachusetts  regiment  with  the  secession  mob  in  Balti- 


20  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

more,  on  tjie  anniversary  of  the  skirmish  at  Lexing 
ton,  April  19th,  1775. 

THE  MASSACHUSETTS  LINE. 
AIR  :  "  Yankee  Doodle." 

i. 

Still  first,  as  long  and  long  ago, 

Let  Massachusetts  muster  ; 
Give  her  the  post  right  next  the  foe ; 

Be  sure  that  you  may  trust  her. 
She  was  the  first  to  give  her  blood 

For  freedom  and  for  honor ; 
She  trod  her  soil  to  crimson  mud : 

God's  blessing  be  upon  her ! 

ii. 
She  never  faltered  for  the  right, 

Nor  ever  will  hereafter ; 
Fling  up  her  name  with  all  your  might, 

Shake  roof-  tree  and  shake  rafter. 
But  of  old  deeds  she  need  not  brag, 

How  she  broke  sword  and  fetter; 
Fling  out  again  the  old  striped  flag ! 

She'll  do  yet  more  and  better. 

in. 
In  peace  her  sails  fleck  all  the  seas, 

Her  mills  shake  every  river  • 
And  where  are  scenes  so  fair  as  these 

God  and  her  true  hands  give  her  ? 
Her  claim  in  war  who  seek  to  rob  ? 

All  others  come  in  later — 
Her's  first  it  is  to  front  the  Mob, 

The  Tyrant  and  the  Traitor. 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  21 

IV. 

God  bless,  G-od  bless  the  glorious  State  ! 

Let  her  have  her  way  to  battle  ! 
She'll  go  where  batteries  crash  with  fate, 

Or  where  thick  rifles  rattle. 
Give  her  the  Right,  and  let  her  try, 

And  then,  who  can,  may  press  her  ; 
She'll  go  straight  on,  or  she  will  die  ; 

God  bless  her  !  and  God  bless  her  ! 

May  7,  1861. 


Excellent  this,  and  all  the  better  because  it  is  true, 
which  cannot  be  said  of  the  greater  number  of  national 
lyrics.  But  attempt  to  sing  it  to  the  air  to  the  rhythm 
of  which  it  is  written,  and  you  will  not  be  able  to 
finish  the  first  stanza  for  laughing.  To  intone  the 
benediction  at  the  end  of  the  first  and  last  stanzas  to 
the  notes  of  the  last  phrase  of  the  air,  would  put  the 
gravity  of  the  Eeverend  writer  to  a  test  which  not  all 
his  sense  of  professional  decorum  would  enable  him 
to  sustain.  And  so  although  we  must  partly  admit 
the  truth  of  the  following  lines  from  one  of  the  pro 
posed  National  Hymns,  sent  to  the  New  York  Com 
mittee, 

"  Familiar  too  as  household  name, 

Is  Yankee  Doodle's  thrilling  song  ; 
It  cheers  the  warrior  in  the  field, 
It  triumphs  m  the  festive  throng;" 

we  must  yet  confess  that  the  "thrilling  song"  in 
question  hardly  meets  the  requirements  of  the  present 
state  of  civilization. 

"Hail  Columbia"  is  really  worse  than  "Yankee 


22  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

Doodle."  That  has  a  character,  although  it  is  comic ; 
and  it  is  respectable,  because  it  makes  no  pretence. 
But  both  the  words  and  music  of  "  Hail  Columbia  " 
are  common-place,  vulgar,  and  pretentious;  and  the 
people  themselves  have  found  all  this  out.* 

*  The  "Star-Spangled  Banner"  is  an  old  French  air,  long  known 
in  England  as  "  Anacreon  in  Heaven,"  and  in  America  as  "Adams 
and  Liberty,"  until  the  song  so  designated  was  supplanted  by  Key's. 
The  air  to  which  Hopkinson  wrote  "  Hail  Columbia  "  was  a  march 
written  by  a  German  band-master  on  occasion  of  a  visit  of  Washing 
ton,  when  President,  to  the  old  John  street  theatre  in  New  York.  It 
was  called  the  "  President's  March."  Yankee  Doodle  is  an  old  English 


II. 

X 

And  so  we  are  practically  without  a  national  hymn. 
That  we  have  thus  far  remained  so,  must  be  attri 
buted  in  part  to  the  brevity  of  our  national  existence, 
partly  to  the  peaceful  and  prosperous  course  of  that 
existence,  until  now — for  national  peril,  or,  at  least, 
national  triumph,  is  needful  to  the  strong  development 
of  the  sentiment  of  nationality — and  partly  to  the 
fact  that  it  is  only  of  late  years  that  music,  excepting 
psalmody,  has  been  cultivated  by  all  sorts  and  con 
ditions  of  men  among  us. 

For  music  is  not   a  spontaneous  product  of  the  > 
English  race ;  and  we  are  but  Englishmen  under  new 
skies  and  new  circumstances.     The  emigration  from . 
other  races  that  has  reached  these  shores,  is,  to  all 
intents   and   purposes,    as   nothing.      Comparatively 
very  small,  it  is  at  once  swallowed  up,  and  becomes 
an  undistinguishable  part  of  the  native  element.     By 
intermarriage,  and  yet  more  by  dominant  influence, 
in    a   generation   or   two,    Irishmen,    Germans,    and 


24  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

Frenchmen  become  Americans,  their  origin  detected 
only  by  their  names ;  and  an  American  is  but  an  Eng 
lishman,  reared  in.  a  somewhat  unkempt,  unfinished 
republic,  where  work,  and  land,  and  social  honor, 
and  political  distinction,  are  to  be  had  by  all  men  who 
will  strive  for  them.  This  makes  some  difference 
between  the  British  subject  and  the  American  citizen; 
but  it  is  a  difference  of  development,  not  of  essential 
traits.  Were  the  latter,  from  his  childhood  up,  under 
as  constant  and  severe  a  restraint  as  the  former  is, 
were  failure  in  business,  in  profession,  as  ruinous 
here  as  it  is  in  the  mother  country,  Americans  would 
cease  to  be  independent,  rash,  and  adventurous,  and 
become  submissive,  cautious,  and  steady-going. 
Their  so-called  excitability  (which  is  not  excitability 
but  mere  mobility ;  for  they  are,  if  there  be  a  differ 
ence,  less  excitable  than  their  brothers  across  the 
water)*  would  give  place  to  that  steadiness  of  habit 

*  Thus,  for  instance,  I  remember  having  seen  three  first-rate  ships, 
one  of  them  a  frigate,  launched.  The  throngs  which  shared  the  sight 
were  immense;  people  having  corne  for  miles,  and  stood  hours 
waiting  in  the  sun,  for  the  sake  of  this  almost  momentary  spectacle. 
In  each  case  the  launch  was  splendid ;  yet  not  a  cheer  went  up.  In 
what  other  country  in  the  world  would  this  have  happened  !  Fanny 
Kemble,  too,  grumbles  in  her  Journal  that  the  audiences  were  sluggish, 
and  that  the  pit  did  not  rise  to  her  father.  Mrs.  Charles  Kean,  and  some 
of  the  great  singers,  have  also  complained  of  the  coldness  of  the  immense 
audiences  which  gathered  to  hear  them,  which  yet  gave  every  other  proof 
of  intelligent  enjoyment,  except  excitement.  Americans  generally  look 
and  listen  in  silence.  Their  readiness  for  a  new  "  sensation  "  is  due 
in  a  great  measure  to  their  craving  for  novelty,  and  their  freedom 
from  those  restraints  which  silently,  but  inexorably,  check  the  move 
ments  of  other  nations. 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  25 

which  has  been  ascribed  to  a  phlegmatic  disposition. 
Thus  the  principal  difference  between  the  two 
branches  into  which  the  English  stock  has  divided^, 
would  disappear.  The  Englishman  has  improved  in 
America  in  some  points,  deteriorated  in  others;  but 
the  improvement  concerns  the  many,  the  deterioration, 
the  few.  So,  as  a  whole,  the  race  has  gained. 

But  the  English  traits,  which  are  so  well  preserved 
in  this  country,  are  not  those  which  are  most  remarked 
by  people  of  other  races  in  the  England  of  to-day  ;  but 
those  which  characterized  us  before  the  middle  of  the 
century  1600.  For  your  British  Englishman  differs 
far  more  than  your  American  Englishman  from  their 
common  ancestor  of  only  two  hundred  years  ago. 
Differs  more  in  person,  in  speech,  in  habit,  in  mind. 
John  Bull  is  a  creature  of  the  last  century.  Before 
the  reign  of  Anne  no  trace  of  him  is  to  be  found  in 
history.  The  least  gracious  part  of  his  character, 
that  with  which  he  seems  to  take  a  malicious  plea 
sure  in  hiding  his  real  worth,  and  his  essential  good 
ness  and  manliness  of  heart,  and  with  which  he  is 
reproached  by  all  nations,  is  a  new  development. 
Arrogant,  supercilious,  egotistical,  selfish  men  there 
are  in  all  nations;  but  no  people,  surely  not  the 
English,  was  ever  accused  by  all  the  world  of  being 
made  up  chiefly  of  such  men,  until  John  Bull 
appeared.  His  very  physiognomy  is  new.  Look  at 
the  far-stretching  galleries  of  well  authenticated  por 
traits  of  Englishmen,  by  painters  of  more  or  less 
eminence,  from  the  time  when  portrait-painting  was 
practised  until  1650,  .and  you  will  see  that  if  John, 

2 


26  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

Bull  were  in  England  then,  he  was  not  in  the  habit 
of  sitting  for  his  picture.  And  do  not  smile  at  the 
term  American  Englishman ;  for  the  Englishman  has 
not  his  name  because  he  was  born  in  England ;  but 
England  was  called  England  because  the  English 
race  dwelt  there.  The  name  goes  with  the  people. 
The  first  England  was  a  small  patch  of  ground  south 
of  the  Baltic  sea;  the  next  was  the  larger  and  the 
fairer  part  of  the  white-cliffed  isle ;  the  new  England 
lies  between  the  two  great  oceans. 

In  one  respect  at  least,  we  faithfully  preserve  a 
distinctive  trait  of  our  race.  We  have  no  national 
music.  In  this  deficiency,  the  English -are  peculiar 
among  all  the  people  of  the  earth.  There  is  no 
national  English  music ;  we  brought  none  over  here 
with  us,  and  we  have  originated  none  since  we  left 
the  old  home.  There  are  songs,  indeed,  which  are 
called  English  ballads;  and  there  are  certain  very 
correctly  written  glees,  mostly  dolorous  in  their  cha 
racter;  and  also,  English  church  "services"  or  sacred 
music,  by  which,  such  words  as  "  We  praise  thee" 
and  "  0,  be  joyful,"  can  be  sung  in  a  sufficiently 
penitential  manner.  But  all  this  has  no  distinctive 
character,  except  it  be  that  character  which  forbids  it 
to  be  called  music  by  any  other  civilized  people,  or 
to  be  listened  to  with  patience  by  those  among  our 
selves  who  happen  to  have  musical  organizations  and 
cultivated  taste.  It  is  true,  that  certain  composers, 
on  both  sides  of  the  water,  have  produced  some  fine 
music — a  very  little;  but  its  character  has  plainly 
shown  that  it  was  merely  the  isekted  upspringing  of 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  27 

German,  Italian,  or  French  seeds,  cultivated  in  Eng 
lish  soil.  We  have  no  school  of  music ;  nay,  we 
have  not  even  a  good  popular  air  that  is  of  our  own 
production.-  The  very  commonest  ballads  which  have 
been  long  in  favor,  both  in  England  and  America,  are 
not  of  English  origin  ;  they  are  Scotch  or  Irish,  French 
or  Italian.  Of  "Home,  Sweet  Home"  itself,  the 
sentiment  of  the  words — written  by  an  American — 
is  truly  English,  but  the  melody  is  Italian.  And  the 
very  "Annie  Laurie,"  which  was  sung  so  much  in 
the  Crimea,  is  Scotch. 

This  lack  of  popular  English  melodies  has  been 
before  remarked.  Tom  Moore,  in  the  Preface  to  his 
"Popular  National  Airs,"  says: — "It  is  Cicero,  I 
believe,  who  says  '  naturd  ad  modos  ducimurj  and  the 
abundance  of  wild,  indigenous  airs  which  almost 
every  country,  except  England,  possesses,  sufficiently 
proves  the  truth  of  this  assertion."  This  is  true  be 
yond  denial.  Among  all  other  people,  music  cheers 
the  toil  of  the  husbandman  ;  but  no  song  goes  up 
from  fields  tilled  by  the  English  race.  We  go  to  our 
work  more  seriously ;  nay,  do  we  not,  on  whichever 
side  of  the  Atlantic,  keep  up  our  wont  of  "  taking 
our  pleasure  sadly,"  as  a  shrewd  observer  said  we  did 
four  hundred  years  and  more  ago  ?  It  is  not  easy  for 
us  to*  break  forth  into  song,  whether  at  work  or  play, 
in  peace  or  war.  Taillefer,  the  Norman,  who  led  the 
first  charge  upon  the  Englishmen  at  the  battle  of 
Hastings,  singing  Chanson  de  Roland  as  he  rode,  only 
got  killed  for  his  pains  in  attempting  to  force  this  out 
landish  fashion  upon  us  at  the  sword's  point,  a  fate 


28  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

which  has  deterred  any  one  from  following  his  exam 
ple.*  As  for  his  race,  they  beat  us  in  that  fight ;  but 
we  had  our  revenge  in  swallowing  up  our  victors. 
In  spite  of  his  lance  and  his  coat  of  mail,  the  Norman 
soon  disappeared  from  the  soil  of  England.  And  now 
we  go  to  battle  in  the  same  impassible  silent  way  in 
which  our  ancestors  went  before  us.  Nay,  when  the 
Garibaldi  Legion  marched  down  Broadway  to  the 

*  An  absurd  practice  has  so  long  obtained,  of  calling  the  two  par 
ties  to  the  battle  of  Hastings,  Normans  and  Saxons,  and  of  dividing 
the  nation  ruled  by  the  conquerors  into  two  people,  distinguished  by 
the  same  names,  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  after,  that  the  desig 
nation  of  the  latter  as  Englishmen  may  excite  some  surprise.  But 
England  was  called  England  more  than  a  thousand  years  ago, 
by  its  own  inhabitants,  and  by  those  of  neighboring  countries, 
because  English  men,  so  calling  themselves,  and  so  called  by 
others,  inhabited  it.  The  Normans  fought  Englishmen  at  Hastings, 
not  Saxons.  See  this  passage  quoted  by  Percy  from  the  Roman  de 
Vacce,  referring  to  the  very  incident  above  mentioned  at  that  battle : — 

"  Quant  ils  virent  Normanz  venir 
Mout  reissiez  Engleiz  fremir,  *    *    * 
Taillefer  qui  mout  bien  chantoit, 
Sur  un  cheval,  qui  tost  alloit 
Devant  euls  aloit  chantant 
De  Kallemaigne,  et  de  Rollant, 
Et  d'Ollivier  de  Yassaux, 
Qui  moururent  en  Raincesvaux." 

See  also  these  lines  from  Wace's  Roman  de  JRou,  written  about 
1140-50.  The  old  romances  are  full  of  like  evidence. 

"  Des  Engleis  furent  rei  toz  treis, 
E  toz  treis  furent  dus  e  reis 
Reis  de  Engleterre  par  cunquie, 
Et  dus  fure  de  Normendie." 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  29 

war,  with  green  sprigs  in  their  hats,  twirling  their 
rifles  in  the  air,  and  singing  as  they  marched,  did  we 
not,  while  admiring,  still  feel  a  little  shamefaced  for 
them,  as  if  they  were  guilty  of  some  indecorum  ? 
which,  nevertheless,  after  the  assuming  habit  of  our 
race,  we  graciously  forgave  them,  because  they  were 
foreigners,  and  so  did  not  know  how  to  behave  them 
selves  "  respectably." 

It  is  beyond  denial  that  there  is  no  really  English 
music,  indigenous,  "  native  and  to  the  manner  born," 
either  in  England  or  America.  Of  airs  properly 
national,  it  should  be  remembered,  the  composers  are 
not  known.  They  are  found  existing  among  the 
people,  who  are  ignorant  of  their  origin.  They  are, 
to. borrow  a  German  phrase,  folk-music. 

This  barrenness  of  popular  melody  is  a  reproach  to 
us  among  the  nations ;  and  instead  of  admitting  it 
candidly,  we  painfully  go  about  to  remove  or  evade 
it.  On  the  other  side  of  the  water  musical  antiqua 
ries  gather  together  such  faded  and  forlorn  fag-ends 
of  melody  as  they  can  find  songs  tacked  to,  and  thus 
succeed  only  in  establishing  by  auricular  demonstra 
tion  that  we  have  been  utterly  unable  to  produce  a 
popular  air  worth  listening  to.*  Or  they  magnify  the 
"  solid  and  manly"  style  of  Fairfax,  Taverner,  Shep 
herd,  Bird,  and  all  the  other  worthies  so  lauded  and 

*  See,  for  instance,  Chappell's  "Collection  of  National  English 
Airs,"  London,  1838 ;  a  work  very  creditable  to  the  research  of  its 
author,  but  in  which  there  is  hardly  an  air  more  than  a  hundred  and 
fifty  years  old,  the  frequent  repetition  of  which  would  not  make  any 
real  lover  of  music,  except  a  Briton  brimfull  of  prejudice,  insane. 


3o  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

glorified  by  Master  Thomas  Morley  in  the  dreary 
dialogues  of  "  Practicall  Musicke"  which  he  holds 
with  Polymathes  and  Philomathes,  and  which  II  um- 
frey  Lownes  imprinted  for  him  at  London  in  1608. 
Or  they  sanctify  themselves  in  the  ecclesiastical  style 
of  Tallis  and  Boyce,  Locke  and  Blow,  on  hearing  or 
reading  wThose  "learned"  compositions,  we  wronder 
whether  they  were  written  by  single  or  double  entry, 
or  were  worked  out  upon  the  binomial  theorem.* 

In  this  country  some  of  us  being  asked  for  our 
national  melodies,  reply,  it  seems,  by  referring  our 
querists  to  the  negro  melodies  !f  They  might  as  well 
fasten  upon  us  the  songs  of  the  Chinese  coolies  in 
California,  or  the  war-whoops  of  the  Cherokee  Indians, 
as  our  national  melodies.  These  are  no  more  to  us 
as  a  people,  or  even  as  a  nation,  because  they  are 

*  Henry  Purcell,  it  is  true,  had  some  semblance  of  musical  inspira 
tion.  But  even  he  wrote  not  a  single  air  which  is  remembered  and 
sung  out  of  England.  The  prophets  of  English  music,  unlike  all 
others,  have  their  honor  in  their  own  country.  It  may  be  worth 
while  to  add  here,  that  an  English  critic  has  remarked  that  "  in  all 
single  songs  [i.e.  airs]  till  those  of  Purcell  appeared,  the  principal  effects 
were  produced  from  the  words,  not  the  melody ;  for  the  English  airs 
antecedent  to  Purcell's  time  [he  composed  1682-1695]  were  as  mis 
shapen  as  if  they  had  been  composed  of  notes  scattered  about  by 
chance,  instead  of  being  cast  in  a  regular  mould."  The  same  writer 
adds,  "  had  his  short  life  been  protracted,  we  might,  perhaps,  have 
had  a  school  of  secular  music  of  our  own  which  we  cannot  to  this 
day  boast  of."  And  since  that  day,  with  the  exception  of  a  clever 
composition  or  two  by  Dr.  Arne  and  Sir  Henry  Bishop,  we  have  been 
wise  enough  to  let  the  Italians,  Germans,  and  French  write  music  for  us. 

f  "When  a  foreigner  asks  and  inquires  about  national  melodies,  he 
is  unanimously  (?)  directed  to  hear  the  so-called  negro  melodies." — 
Gurowski's  America  and  Europe,  p.  179. 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  31 

heard  in  this  country,  than  the  songs  of  the  birds  or 
the  howling  of  the  wolves.  We  have  no  national 
melodies ;  nor  has  there  been  either  occasion  or  mode 
by  which  we  should  obtain  them.  It  seems  also 
pretty  sure  that  we  shall  never  have  them.  For 
national  melodies  are  the  nursery  songs  of  a  people, 
heard  in  the  dimly  recollected  days  of  its  infancy, 
lingering  in  its  maturer  memory,  and  cherished  there 
even  more  for  the  sake  of  dear  associations  than  for  ( 
their  inherent  power  of  pleasing.  But  this  nation 
was  born  of  full  age. 

So  people  demand  of  us  a  national  literature.  But 
there  shall  no  national  literature  be  given  them. 
What  semblance  of  reason  have  they  for  asking  it?; 
We  have  not  existed  long  enough  as  a  nation  to  pro 
duce  a  distinctive  literature.  And,  in  any  case,  what 
have  political  forms,  where  the  essence  of  liberty  is 
preserved,  to  do  with  literature?  Something,  but 
very  little ;  and  that  regarding  the  mere  husk  of  it. 
As  a  people,  we  have  a  grand  literature,  stretching 
as  it  does  for  five  hundred  years  and  more,  through 
Milton  and  Shakspeare,  back  to  Chaucer  and  Wic- 
liffe ;  and  occupied,  as  we  must  needs  be,  chiefly  with 
the  material  interests  of  life,  our  share  of  contributions 
to  that  literature,  in  the  last  fifty  years,  is  one,  of 
which,  neither  as  to  its  quality  nor  its  quantity,  need 
we  be  ashamed.  Irving,  Dana,  Bryant,  Prescott, 
Webster,  Everett,  Longfellow,  Poe,  Hawthorne, 
Whittier,  Holmes,  Lowell,  Motley,  not  to  mention 
others,  write  good  English  words,  and  think  good 
English  thoughts.  They  are,  with  a  single  exception, 


32  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

quite  as  highly  appreciated,  and  perhaps  as  much 
read  in  the  mother  country  as  here ;  while  Scott  and 
Bulwer,  Wordsworth  and  Tennyson,  Macaulay  and 
Grote,  Lamb,  Dickens,  and  Thackeray,  have  ten  read 
ers  here,  and  Shakspeare  twenty,  for  one  across  the 
water.  De  Quincey  and  Carlyle  met  their  recogni 
tion  in  America ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  Longfellow 
attained  his  present  eminence  first  in  England. 

Strangely  enough,  as  some  people  call  negro  songs 
American  national  music,  others  meet  the  demand 
for  %  national  literature,  by  referring  the  inquirer  to 
"  our  "  Indian  legends — the  traditions  of  a  savage 
people  which  is  vanishing  away  before  our  race,  with 
which  it  has  not  even  a  single  point  of  affinity  or  of 
contact!  I  have  even  seen  Mr.  Longfellow's  "Hia 
watha"  welcomed  by  a  foreign  critic  as  something 
"  at  last  truly  American."  And  does  subject  deter 
mine  nationality  ?  Alas,  then,  for  the  English  claim 
to  thirteen  of  Shakspeare's  fourteen  comedies,  and  to 
eleven  of  his  twelve  tragedies!  These  people  who 
vcall  for  a  distinctive  American  literature,  should  be 
very  careful  that  their  children  are  not  born  in  stables, 
lest  they  should  turn  out  to  be  horses  or — something 
else. 

As  to  the  arts  of  design,  in  landscape  painting — 
the  special  development  of  that  art  in  this  age — we 
have  already  attained  peculiar  excellence.  But  this 
is  the  result  of  local  physical  causes  which  do  not 
operate  upon  music  and  literature. 

English  literature  is  the  literature  both  of  the 
Anglo-Britons  and  the  Anglo-Americans.  Its  wealth 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  33 

is  common  to  them  as  a  people ;  and  even  as  nations 
neither  can  set  up  a  separate  claim  that  is  a  century 
old.  The  time  may  come,  two  or  three  hundred 
years  hence,  when  there  will  be  a  distinctive  Ameri 
can  literature, — though  not  founded  upon  Indian 
legends.  But  even  this  is  doubtful ;  for  in  all  that 
might  be  relied  upon  to  produce  a  distinctive  charac 
ter  in  our  thought,  or  even  in  our  language,  England 
is  overtaking  us  faster  than  we  are  getting  away 
from  her.* 

*  It  is  needful  to  remark  here  upoii  what  is  meant  by  the  words 
'nation'  and  'people'  respectively.  Within  a  comparatively  short 
period,  necessity,  which  rules  nowhere  more  despotically  than  in  lan 
guage,  has  perverted  the  former  to  a  sense  almost  the  converse  of  that 
which  etymologically  belongs  to  it,  which  implies  a  mere  commu 
nity  of  birth  and  blood,  and  by  natural  consequence,  identity  of  lan 
guage  and  customs.  To  these  notions  of  the  elements  of  nationality 
there  came  to  be  added,  quite  as  naturally,  those  of  existence  in  the 
same  country  and  under  the  same  government.  Thus  Sir  William  Temple 
says:  "  A  nation  properly  signifies  a  great  number  of  families  derived 
from  the  same  blood,  born  in  the  same  country,  and  living  under  the 
same  government."  Crabbe,  however,  the  author  of  "  English  Syno- 
nymes,"  excludes  entirely  the  elements  of  country  and  government 
from  nationality.  He  says  (in  not  very  clear  language) :  "  The  Ameri 
cans,  when  spoken  of  in  relation  to  Britain,  are  a  distinct  people, 
because  they  have  each  a  distinct  government ;  but  they  are  not  a 
distinct  nation,  because  they  have  a  common  descent."  And  William 
Taylor,  of  Norwich,  a  far  better  scholar  and  closer  thinker  than  Crabbe, 
in  his  English  Synonymes,  thus  discriminates  between  nation  and 
people.  "  Nation  makes  the  connexion  of  birth,  and  people  that 
of  common  subordination.  *  *  *  A  nation  is  a  great  family;  a  people, 
a  great  corporation.  We  do  not  yet  [A.  D.  1856]  oppose  the  Ameri 
can  nation  to  the  British  nation,  because  the  ties  of  kindred,  the 
marks  of  common  birth  and  descent,  are  not  yet  withdrawn ;  but  we 
oppose  the  American  people  to  the  British  people,  because  the  ties 

2* 


34  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

of  common  subordination  are  wholly  cut  asunder.  The  word  nation 
excludes,  the  word  people  includes  foreign  residents."  This  is  very- 
true  etymologically ;  but  it  does  not  meet  the  linguistic  needs  either 
of  statesmen  or  the  general  public.  Etymologically  speaking,  there 
is  no  British  nation  (except  in  Wales),  but  a  British  people  made  up 
of  the  English,  Scotch,  Welsh,  and  Irish  nations.  But  by  what  code 
does  Great  Britain  regulate  her  foreign  intercourse,  international  law  or 
interpopular  law  ?  Is  the  British  flag  the  national  or  the  popular  stand 
ard,  and  "God  Save  the  King"  the  national  or  the  popular  hymn? 
Of  necessity,  therefore,  we  find  the  London  Times,  for  instance,  speak 
ing  continually  of  the  British  nation.  And  Yattel,  using  '  nation '  as 
synonymous  with  'state,'  says:  "Nations,  or  States,  are  political 
bodies,  societies  of  men  united  together  to  attain  mutual  safety  and 
advantage  by  their  combined  strength."  Walker  ("American  Law," 
pp.  717,  718)  says:  "By  a  nation,  in  the  sense  in  which  I  am  now 
using  the  term,  I  understand  a  society  of  people  so  organized  as  to 
govern  themselves  independently  of  foreign  powers.  *  *  *  Thus  the 
American  colonies  before  the  Revolution,  were  only  parts  of  the  Bri 
tish  nation.  And  in  like  manner,  the  States  of  the  Union  are  not 
nations,  because  they  have  parted  with  many  of  the  attributes  of  inde 
pendent  self-government,  but  only  parts  of  that  one  and  entire  nation, 
known  and  recognised  by  other  nations  as  the  United  States."  &c. 
Webster's  definition  of  nation  is,  "A  body  of  people  inhabiting  the 
same  country,  or  united  under  the  same  sovereign  or  government;" 
and  in  this  sense  the  word  is  now  used  by  the  best  writers  and  speak 
ers  in  all  languages,  as  well  as  by  people  generally.  But  what  then 
becomes  of  the  nationality  which  distinguishes  the  English,  the  Scotch, 
and  the  Irish  from  each  other?  What  becomes  of  the  nationality 
of  manners,  customs,  and  music  ?  I  think  that  it  will  be  found  that 
the  definitions  given  by  Crabbe  and  Mr.  Taylor,  must  be,  nay,  to  all 
intents  and  purposes  are,  directly  reversed ;  and  that  we  speak  of  the 
English  people,  the  Welsh  people,  the  Scotch  people,  and  the  Irish 
people,  as  forming  the  British  nation;  and  that  Scotch  and  Irish 
national  airs,  for  instance,  have  become  Scotch  and  Irish  popular  airs, 
as  having  originated  and  been  preserved  among  the  Scotch  and  Irish 
people.  So,  although  the  Jewish  nation  and  Jewish  nationality  are 
utterly  destroyed,  the  Jews  are,  and  ever  will  be,  as  they,  from  the 
days  of  Moses  and  Aaron,  ever  have  been,  "  a  peculiar  people." 


ni. 


We  have,  then,  no  national  music,  as  we  have  no 
national  literature.  But  to  a  national  hymn,  a  na 
tional  music  is  not  essential ;  for  the  British  (it  never 
was  the  English)  national  hymn  is  the  finest  in  exist 
ence,  and  that  was  produced  in  England,  which  is  as 
barren  of  melody  as  America.  The  germ  of  the  air 
is  not  of  English  growth ;  but  the  thing  as  a  whole  is 
of  English  fabrication.  The  music,  in  the?  present 
form  of  its  melody  and  harmony,  is  in  certain  points 
superior,  even  to  Haydn's  noble  air,  written  for  the  Aus 
trian  national  hymn,  which  a  true-born  Briton,  con> 
paring  the  two,  has  naively  said,  "  wants  the  manly, 
majestic,  full-hearted  boldness  of  the  strains  in  which  we 
are  accustomed  to  express,  not  more  our  respect  for  our 
monarch  than  our  own  national  pride."  The  words, 
indeed,  are  poor  enough.  Lyrically,  they  are  naught ; 
but  they  express  in  strong,  blunt  language,  the  British 
national  feeling ;  they  denounce  the  king's  enemies 
roundly,  and  rate  them  in  good  set  terms  ;  and  they 


36  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

do  this  in  the  form  of  prayer  to  God.  They  have  thus 
become,  by  mingled  fitness  and  association,  the  most 
absolute  expression  of  John  Bull-ism,  and  so  are  sung 
with  equal  gusto  by  your  true  Briton  before  a  big 
battle,  and  after  a  big  dinner. 

But  this  fine  national  air,  and  its  well-suited  words, 
were  they  written  for  a  coronation,  or  a  victory,  or  in  a 
general  way  to  express  "  not  more  our  respect  for  our 
monarch  than  our  own  national  pride?"  By  whom 
were  they  written,  and  when,  and  on  what  inspira 
tion  ?  These  points  were  long  mooted,  but  they  have 
been  pretty  nearly  settled ;  and  before  we  are  done 
with  the  subject,  we  trust  that  there  will  be  no  doubt 
left  upon  the  question :  for  the  history  of  this  hymn  is 
so  curious  and  instructive  that  it  is  worth  our  attention. 

"  Grod  Save  the  King,"  then,  which  has  become  the 
recognised  British  national  hymn,  the  concentrated 
expression  of  loyalty  to  King,  Lords,  and  Commons, 
is,  words  and  music,  a  rebel  composition,  written  in 
honor  of  a  pretender  to  the  British  throne  ;  and  the 
"  enemies"  that  it  so  denounces  are  the  reigning 
House  of  Hanover,  and  its  supporters.  It  has  been 
attributed  to  Dr.  John  Bull,  a  musician  who  lived  in 
England  in  the  reigns  of  Elizabeth  and  James  I. ;  but 
this  could  have  been  done  only  by  persons  entirely 
unacquainted  with  Bull's  compositions,  which  are 
formal,  dry,  and  dreary  to  the  last  degree,  besides 
being  "  impossible"  enough  to  please  Dr.  Johnson.* 

*  The  story  told  of  him  by  "Wood,  in  his  Fasti  Oxonienses,  and  which 
is  repeated  even  at  this  day,  that  he  made  himself  known  to  a  musi- 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  37 

It  was  even  said,  upon  the  authority  of  a  Dr.  Cook, 
who  had  inspected  the  Archives  of  the  Academy  of 
Ancient  Music  upon  this  subject,  to  have  been  "writ 
ten  by  a  Dr.  Kogers,  in  the  time  of  Henry  VIIL,  prior 
to  the  Keformation."*  But  the  truth  is,  that  it  has 
not  yet  been  known  a  hundred  and  twenty-five 
years,  or  recognised  as  a  British  national  »hymn 
for  seventy -five  years.  As  late  as  1796,  a  corres 
pondent  of  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  expresses  a 
u  wish"  that  "  the  song  of  God  save  the  king,  may 
long  cheer  the  heart  of  many  a  loyal  subject."  The 
air  is  originally  French,  and  is  still  sung  by  the  vine 
dressers  in  the  south  of  France.  This  air,  Henry 
Carey,  a  musician  who  lived  in  the  reign  of  William 
and  Mary,  Anne,  and  the  first  Georges,  adopted  and 
re-wrote,  writing  also,  and  perhaps  partly  adopting, 
the  verses  which  are  now  sung  to  it,  with  the  excep 
tion  of  two  very  important  words. 

"  God  Save  the  King,"  was  first  published  in  the 
Gentleman's  Magazine  for  October,  1745,  where  it 
appears,  with  the  music,  among  the  miscellaneous  col 
lection  of  rhyming  odds  and  ends,  at  the  end  of  the 
number,  merely  as  "  A  Song,  for  two  voices.  As  sung 
at  both  Playhouses"  The  melody  of  the  first  strain, 
and  the  last  bar,  is  different  from,  and  much  inferior 


cian  at  St.  Omer's,  by  taking  a  piece  of  music  in  forty  parts,  and  add 
ing  forty  other  parts  to  it,  is  even  more  absurd  than  the  attributing 
"  God  save  the  King"  to  him.  The  fact  is,  as  any  person  who  can 
read  a  musical  score,  knows,  physically  impossible.  The  musical  scale 
does  not  admit  even  the  first  forty  parts. 

*  See  the  Gentleman's  Magazine,   1796.  p.  993. 


NATIONAL  HYMNS. 


to,  the  present  reading.*  The  harmony  is  Dr.  Arne's, 
he  having  arranged  the  song,  and  brought  it  into  pub 
lic  notice  at  one  of  the  theatres  ;  and  hence  its  publi 
cation  by  Cave  in  his  magazine.  Testimony  has  been 
produced  to  show  that  Henry  Carey  avowed  the 
authorship  of  the  song  once  in  private.  His  son, 
Geoige  Savile  Carey,  set  up  the  same  claim  for  his 
father,  and  actually  applied  to  George  III.  for  a  pecu 
niary  "gratification"  on  that  account.  John  Christo 
pher  Smith,  Handel's  well  known  amanuensis,  also 
asserted  that  Carey  was  the  composer.  In  the  Gen- 

*  The  change  is  said  to  have  been  made  by  Dr.  Pepusch. 
"  A  New  Song  for  two  voices.     As  sung  at  both  Playhouses." 

—i — i — I 1 1 1 N 1 


God    save  great  George  our  King,  Long  live    our       no  -  ble    King, 


God    save    the  King.  Send  him    vie  -  to  -    ri  -  ous,  Hap  -  py   and 


/  ^rs -*•* 1 1 r  r=- 


glo  -    ri  -  ous,  Long  to      reign  o  -    ver    us,  God    save  the  King. 


Thus  the  music  of  this  song  is  given  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine. 
The  musical  reader  will  notice  how  important  the  changes  are,  and  how 
great  the  improvements  which  have  been  made  both  in  its  melody  and 
harmony  since  that  time. 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  39 

tleman's  Magazine  for  1795,  p.  907,  a  correspondent 
complains  of  the  "  extreme  pains  lately  taken  to 
degrade  the  excellent  old  melody  '  God  save  great 
George  our  king,'  by  attributing  it  to  Henry  Carey ; 
a  very  pleasant  well  humored  fellow,  and  a  good  com 
poser,  but  too  much  of  a  buffoon  to  be  the  parent  of 
an  offspring  of  such  awful  deportment."  Carey's 
claim  to  the  authorship  of  this  famous  song,  has  been 
recently  scouted  in  England  by  distinguished  musical 
writers.*  But  there  are  circumstances2  and  strong 
internal  evidence,  which  sustain  the  testimony  in  favor 
of  Carey  ;  and  in  a  way  which  accounts  for  his  never 
having  owned  the  song  publicly  himself. 

In  the  Gentleman's  Magazine,  the  first  line  of  the 
song,  which  is  called  "  a  new  song"  in  the  Index,  is, 
of  course, 

"  God  save  great  George,  our  king." 

But  as  the  song  grew  in  favor,  it  began  to  be  said  by 
some  people  that,  when  they  first  heard  it,  it  began — 

God  save  great  James,  our  king. 

And  indubitable  evidence  was  produced,  that  such 
was  its  first  form.  But  there  had  not  been  any  King 
James  in  England  since  one  dark  night  in  1688  !  So 
what  did  all  this  mean  ?  The  only  "  person  of  the 
name  of  James,"  whom  any  one  in  England  could  have 
asked  to  have  kept  particularly  safe  as  king,  between 
1688  and  1745,  was  either  the  dethroned  James  II. 

*  See,  for  instance,  Mr.  George  Hogarth's  remarks  in  Home's 
"Book  of  British  Song."  London,  1845,  p.  3. 


40  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

who  died  in  1701,  or  his  son  James,  the  first  Pretender. 
The  song,  then,  is  a  Jacobite  song ;  and  the  enemies, 
against  whose  politics  and  knavish  tricks  it  is  so 
devoutly  damnatory  are,  as  before  said,  the  grandfa 
thers,  in  various  degrees  of  greatness,  of  her  present 
Most  Gracious  Majesty.  This  has  been  before  hesitat 
ingly  asserted,  and  stoutly  denied  in  England  ;*  but,  it 
would  seem,  after  a  very  partial  examination  of  the  sub 
ject  ;  for  at  this  very  day  the  song,  strangely  enough, 
still  retains  evidence  in  support  of  its  Jacobite  origin, 
and  also  of  the  period  at  which  it  was  produced.  This 
evidence  appears  in  the  first  and  second  stanzas,  the 
former  of  which  was  thus  sung,  during  the  reign  of 
the  Georges — 

God  save  great  George  our  king  I 
Long  live  our  noble  king! 

God  save  the  king ! 
Send  him  victorious, 
Happy  and  glorious, 
Long  to  reign  over  us, 

God  save  the  king ! 

The  advent  of  William  and  of  Yictoria  to  the  throne, 
whose  names  would  not  fit  the  verse,  made  a  change 
in  the  first  line  necessary,  which  is  now  sung, 

"  God  save  our  gracious  Queen  /" 

and  this  form  will  probably  be  preserved  hereafter, 
adapted  to  the  sex  of  the  monarch,  omitting  the 

*  See  ChappelTs  "  Collection  of  National  English  Airs."    Yol.  L 
p.  83. 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  41 

proper  name.  But  while  they  were  making  altera 
tions,  it  is  strange  indeed  that  one  word  was  passed 
over.  The' neglect  must  have  happened  either  from 
sheer  oversight,  or  from  the  unwillingness  to  change, 
even  from  worse  to  better,  which  has  become  such  a 
distinctive  trait  of  brother  Bull's  character.  The 
word  in  question  is  in  the  fourth  line  of  the  stanza  : 
"  Send  her  (or  him)  victorious,  *  *  *  long  to  reign 
over  us."  Send  her  whence  and  whither  ?  Why, 
Victoria,  William,  George  is  there  :  in  England :  on. 
the  throne.  It  is  as  plain  as  the  nose  on  a  Bourbon's 
face  that  the  king  for  whom  that  prayer  was  first  sent 
up,  was  not  within  the  narrow  seas.  He  was  ove% 
the  water.  This  is  made  the  surer  by  the  form  in 
which  the  stanza  in  question  was  first  written,  accord 
ing  to  the  testimony  of  those  who  had  heard  it  sung 
before  1745,  which  is  supported  by  interesting  colla 
teral  evidence. 

"  Send  him  victorious, 
Happy  and  glorious, 
Soon  to  reign  over  us, 
God  save  the  King !  " 

This  king,  very  clearly,  had  not  arrived,  but  was 
expected;  and  his  faithful  subjects  were  impatient. 
But  rather  equivocal — and  yet  rather  unequivocal — 
words  these,  to  be  singing  in  the  year  of  grace,  1740, 
in  the  thirteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  our  gracious 
lord  and  sovereign  King  George  II.,  son  and  right 
ful  heir  of  his  most  gracious  majesty  George  I., 
of  happy  memory.  The  incongruity  is  said  to  have 


42  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

been  seen  by  the  composer  himself,  who  sang  the 
song  in  1740,  at  a  dinner  given  at  a  tavern  in  Corn- 
hill,  in  honor  of  Admiral  Vernon's  capture  of  Porto 
Bello.  He  then  changed  "  soon  "  to  "  long,"  and 
owned  the  song  as  his  composition.  But  neither 
Carey,  nor,  strange  to  say,  those  who  have  since 
manipulated  the  song,*  seem  to  have  seen  the  full 

*  The  following  is  the  form  in  which  the  song  is  DOW  sung. 

1. 

God  save  our  gracious  Queen  1 
Long  live  our  noble  Queen  1 

God  save  the  Queen  1 
g  Send  her  victorious, 

Happy  and  glorious, 
Long  to  reign  over  us, 
God  save  the  Queen ! 

2. 

0  Lord,  our  God,  arise, 
Scatter  her  enemies, 

And  make  them  fall  I 
Confound  their  politics, 
Frustrate  their  knavish  tricks, 
On  her  our  hopes  we  fix, 

0  save  us  all  1 

3. 

Thy  choices^  gifts  in  store 
On  her  be  pleased  to  pour, 
Long  may  she  reign ! 
May  she  defend  our  laws, 
And  ever  give  us  cause, 
To  sing  with  heart  and  voice, 

God  save  the  Queen  1 

In  the  last  line  but  one  of  the  last  stanza,  "  To  sing  with  heart 
and  voice,"  originally  stood  "  To  say  with  heart  and  voice." 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  43 

significance  of  the  stanza;  for  while  "soon"  was 
stricken  out,  "send,"  the  twin  tell-tale,  and  the  first 
born  and  louder- voiced  of  the  two,  was  left,  and  has 
been  prating,  open-mouthed,  of  his  bastardy,  for  a 
hundred  and  twenty  years.  And  even  now,  if  the  inap- 
propriateness  of  the  neglected  word  should  be  noticed  in 
the  proper  official  quarter,  so  much  does  John  Bull 
prefer  his  mumpsimuj,  that  he  is  used  to,  to  a  sump- 
simus,  that  common  sense  shows  to  be  right  ;  so 
reluctant  is  he  to  change  for  the  better,  that  it  is  more 
than  probable  that  the  obvious  correction  to  be 
made — "  Grant  her  victorious" — will  not  be  made, 
arid  that  we  shall  hear  him  praying,  "  with  heart- 
and  voice,"  for  the  very  monarch  to  be  sent  to  him, 
under  whose  glorious  reign  he  is  so  happy  as  to  be 
living. 

But  the  second  stanza  gives  evidence  even  more 
strongly  than  the  first,  though  not  quite  so  palpably, 
to  the  Jacobite  origin  of  this  song : — 

"  0  Lord  our  God  arise, 
Scatter  his  enemies, 

And  make  them  fall ! 
Confound  their  politics, 
Frustrate  their  knavish  tricks, 
On  him  our  hopes  we  fix, 

Gk>d  save  us  all !  " 

Merely  observing  the  pitiful  tameness  of  "  And 
make  them  fall,"  and  the  ludicrous  bluntness  of  the 
two  following  lines,  remark  particularly  that  this 
stanza  concerns  itself  about  a  king  who  is  in  personal 
peril,  from  enemies  open  and  secret,  and  who,  with 


44  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

his  faithful  subjects,  is  awaiting  deliverance.  God  is 
called  upon  not  to  "  scatter  his  enemies  "  generally, 
but  to  arise,  then  and  there,  and  do  it  quickly.  The 
singers  do  not  fix  their  trust  upon  the  king,  but  thei7' 
"  hopes ;  "  and  deliverance  is  expected,  longed  for, 
and  not  only  for  him  : — "  God  save  us  all !  "  See, 
too,  in  this  light,  the  fitness  and  the  significance  of 
those  two  queer  lines — 

"  Confound  their  politics, 
Frustrate  their  knavish  tricks. 

Sung  under  the  sceptre  of  Victoria,  or  her  uncle,  or 
her  grandfather,  they  are  relatively  as  absurd  as  they 
are  intrinsically  ridiculous.  But  think  of  them  sung 
at  night,  in  a  retired  room,  over  a  jorum  of  punch 
or  a  magnum  of  claret,  by  a  knot  of  Jacobite  fellows, 
expecting  the  Pretender,  and  having  in  mind  the 
politics  of  Lord  Townshend  and  the  knavish  tricks 
of  Walpole  ;  and  although  the  poetry  is  made  no 
better,  the  incongruity  disappears. 

It  is  not  certain,  however,  that  Carey  originated  the 
motive  of  this  song ;  and  it  is  not  improbable  that 
he  derived  the  form  of  it,  and  some  of  the  words, 
from  an  old  Jacobite  song  now  lost.  For  the  follow 
ing  curious  inscription  has  been  discovered  upon  the 
drinking-glasses,  among  the  relics  preserved  in  Scot 
land,  of  an  ancient  Jacobite  family  : — 

"  God  save  the  King,  T  pray  ! 

God  save  the  King! 
Send  him  victorious, 
Soon  to  reign  over  us  I 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  45 

God  bless  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
The  true  born  Prince  of  Wales, 

Sent  us  by  Thee  ! 
Grant  us  one  favor  more, 
The  King  for  to  restore. 
As  thou  hast  done  before, 

The  Familie  !  "  * 

Is  this  the  original  of  Carey's  song,  or  a  reminis 
cence  of  it  ?  The  absence  of  the  name  of  the'  king 
introduced  by  Carey  in  the  first  lines,  and  the  allu 
sion  in  the  latter  to  the  birth  of  the  son  of  James 
II.,  which  was  regarded  by  the  Jacobites  as  a  special 
interposition  of  Providence,  and  by  the  Whigs  as  too 
nearly  miraculous  to  be  believed  in,  seem  to  point  it 
out  as  of  the  very  earliest  Jacobite  origin,  and  written 
probably  in  the  first  years  of  the  reign  of  William 
and  Mary,  as  the  king  mentioned  is  plainly  James 
himself,  who  lost  the  battle  of  the  Boyne  in  1690, 
and  died  in  1701.  As  Carey  died  by  his  own  hand 
three  years  before  the  Jacobite  insurrection  of  1745, 
he  probably  composed  what  Mr.  George  Hogarth  calls 
athis  noble  strain  of  patriotic  loyalty,"  in  1714  or 
1715,  when  the  landing  of  the  Pretender  was  anx 
iously  expected  by  all  parties,  and  the  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  was  suspended. 

Many  additional  stanzas  have  been  written  to 
u  God  Save  the  King,"  but  none  of  them  have  esta 
blished  themselves  as  a  part  of  the  hymn.  One  of 
them  is  sufficiently  comical  to  be  worth  noticing.  It 
was  written  during  the  second  British  civil  war  of  the 

*  From  Clarke's  "  Dissertation  on  God  Save  the  King." 


46  NATIONAL  HYMNS 

last  century,  and  after  the  first  victories  of  the  young 
Pretender,  against  whom  was  sent,  among  other  com 
manders,  General  Wade,  an  officer  from  whom  much 
was  expected.  So  the  lieges  added  a  stanza  to  their 
loyal  song,  and  sang  it  at  both  the  playhouses,  begin 
ning  :— 

"  Lord,  grant  that  Marshal  Wade 
May,  by  thy  mighty  aid, 
Victory  bring." 

A  petition  that  brings  to  mind  some  of  those 
put-up  now-a-days  in  New  England,  in  which  the 
petitioners,  not  content  to  ask  for  daily  bread,  or 
other  benefits  in  general  terms,  send  up  with  their 
prayers  special  intimations  of  the  mode  in  which 
they  might  most  conveniently,  or  at  least  agree 
ably,  be  granted.  For  manifestly  Wade  is  the 
individual  mainly  looked  to;  and  the  mighty  aid 
plainly  has  its  chief  value  in  rhyming  with  the  Mar 
shal's  name,  and  in  furnishing  also  a  parenthetical 
conscience-saver,  or  assurance  of  distinguished  consi 
deration  in  the  other  quarter. 

Not  Marshal  Wade,  but  the  Duke  of  Cumberland 
brought  victory.  And,  apropos  of  victories  and 
defeats  in  the  "  unholy  civil  war"  of  the  times 
when  the  British  national  hymn  was  coming  into 
vogue,  fought  about  a  mere  matter  of  government  by 
"fratricidal"  hands,  and  not  malapropos  of  certain 
defeats  about  these  times,  and  what  has  been  said  of 
them,  it  is  worth  while  to  read  over  those  brief  pas 
sages  of  British  history. 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  47 

Sept.  1745.  "With  this  reinforcement,  his  troops  [Sir  John 
Cope's,  commander  of  the  royal  forces]  amounted  to  near  three 
thousand  men ;  and  he  began  his  march  to  Edinburgh  in  order 
to  give  battle  to  the  enemy.  *  *  *  Early  next  morning  he  was 
attacked  by  the  young  Pretender  at  the  head  of  about  two  thou 
sand  four  hundred  highlanders,  half  armed,  who  charged  him 
sword  in  hand  with  such  impetuosity  that  in  less  than  ten  minutes 
after  the  battle  began  the  King's  troops  were  broken  and  totally 
routed.  The  dragoons  fled  in  the  utmost  confusion  at  the  first 
onset :  the  general  officers  having  made  some  unsuccessful  efforts 
to  rally  them  thought  proper  to  consult  their  own  safety  by  an 
expeditious  retreat  towards  Coldstream  on  the  Tweed.  All  the 
infantry  were  either  killed  or  taken ;  and  their  colors,  artillery, 
tents,  baggage  and  military  chest  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
victor,  who  returned  in  triumph  to  Edinburgh.  *  *  *  Not 
above  fifty  of  the  rebels  lost  their  lives  in  the  engagement.  Five 
hundred  of  the  King's  troops  were  killed  on  the  field  of  battle." 
— Smollet's  "  History  of  England,"  vol.  iii.  p.  143.  ed.  1827. 

Jan.  1746.  "  By  this  time  a  considerable  body  of  forces  were 
assembled  at  Edinburgh  under  conduct  of  General  Hawley, 
who  determined  to  relieve  Stirling  Castle.  *  *  *  Such  was  his 
obstinacy,  self-conceit,  or  contempt  of  the  enemy,  that  he 
slighted  the  repeated  intelligence  he  had  received  of  their 
motions  and  design,  firmly  believing  they  durst  not  hazard  an 
engagement.  *  *  *  The  highlanders  kept  up  their  fire,  and  took 
aim  so  well  that  the  assailants  were  broke  by  the  first  volley  ;  they 
retreated  with  precipitation.  *  *  *  The  rebels  followed  their  first 
blow,  and  the  great  part  of  the  royal  army,  after  one  irregular 
discharge,  turned  their  backs  and  fled  in  the  utmost  consternation" 
— Idem.  Ibid.  p.  153. 

After  the  battle  of  Manassas  it  would  be  very  pre 
suming  in  an  American  to  say  anything  about 
panics,  or  to  discuss  the  question  whether  the  regular 
troops  of  any  other  than  a  pusillanimous  people  could 
flee  panic-stricken  from  less  than  their  own  number 
of  half-armed  volunteers;  and  so  these  passages  present 
a  difficulty  which  must  be  passed  over  in  silence. 
But  the  historian  helps  us  a  little  by  telling  us  that 
in  April  following,  these  very  thrice- victorious  rebel 
volunteers,  "  having  been  under  arms  during  the 


48  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

whole  preceding  night,"  and  being  "faint  with  hun 
ger  and  fatigue,  and  many  of  them  overpowered 
with  sleep,"  were  routed  at  the  battle  of  Culloden,  in 
the  famous  slaughter  at  which,  by  the  way,  Hawley 
and  his  troops  did  distinguished  service. 

"  In  less  than  thirty  minutes  they  were  totally  defeated,  and 
the  field  covered  with  the  slain.  The  road  as  far  as  Inverness, 
was  strewed  with  dead  bodies;  and  a  great  number  of  people 
who,  from  motives  of  curiosity,  had  come  to  see  the  battle,  were 
sacrificed  to  the  undistinguishing  vengeance  of  the  victors." — 
Ib.  Id.,  p.  159. 

Events  never  repeat  themselves  exactly ;  but  there 
is  sometimes  a  striking  similarity  between  them ;  so 
striking  that  it  is  hardly  safe,  whatever  happens,  for 
a  people  to  say,  "  We  never  did,"  or  "  we  never  would 
do  so.  Look  at  us ;  be  humiliated,  and  take  ex 
ample."  Americans  should  remember  this,  and  lay 
the  lesson  well  to  heart. 

But  to  return  to  the  new  song  which  some  English 
men  were  singing  at  both  the  playhouses  about  the  time 
of  these  battles  for  the  success  of  King  George, while 
some  others — these,  too,  the  "real  original  Jacob-ites" — 
were  singing  it  at  their  own  houses  for  the  success  of 
King  James. — A  time,  Mr.  Punch  when,  0  grinning 
puppet,  jerked  into  antics  with  strings  mostly  of  a 
three-penny  value,  and  with  a  single  eye  upon  the 
crowd  through  which  the  hat  is  passing, — 

British  Jacobites  were  pot, 
And  loyal  British,  kettle, 
Equal  morally,  if  not 

Men  of  equal  mettle.* 

*  See  the  following  stanza  in  Punch  upon  "  The  Kun  from  Manassaa 
Junction." 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  49 

The  majestic  "beauty  of  the  music  of  "  God  Save 
the  King"  has  won  it  a  singular  distinction  which 
is  quite  inconsistent  with  one  of  the  functions  of  a 
national  air.  It  has  been  adopted  for  the  national 
hymns  of  Prussia,  Hanover,  Weimar,  Brunswick, 
and  Saxony ;  so  that  its  distinctive  nationality 
is  no  longer  in  its  music,  but  only  in  its  poor,  per 
verted,  rebel-born  words. 

"  We  for  North  and  South  alike 

Entertain  affection. 
These  for  Negro  slavery  strike, 

Those  for  forced  protection. 
Yankee  Doodle  is  the  pot, 

Southerner  the  kettle, 
Equal  morally,  if  not 

Men  of  equal  mettle. 

And  so  slavery  and  a  high  tariff  are  now  equal  morally  in  John  Bull's 
eyes  1  The  admission  of  what  the  whole  world  more  than  suspected 
has  come  at  last  Its  candor,  not  to  say  effrontery,  gives  it  some 
claim  upon  admiration.  And  is  it  thus  that  Britain  stands  confessed 
before  us !  Britain  indeed ;  but,  alas,  how  much  changed  from  that 
Britain  that  decked  herself  in  the  spoils  of  slavery,  and  hurled  the 
fires  of  consuming  vengeance  upon  the  inhuman  fleets ! 


IY. 

The  history  of  the  other  great  national  hymn  of  the 
world,  the  Marseillaise — for  these  two  separate  them 
selves  by  eminence  from  all  the  others — is  noticeably 
and  significantly  unlike  that  which  has  just  been 
examined.  Every  reader  of  this  little  book  may  not 
know  all  the  brief  history  of  that  marvellous  song, 
which  is  almost  travestied  in  Lamartine's  senti 
mental  melodramatic  account  of  it  in  the  Qdrondins. 
It  received  its  name  from  the  men  who  first  made  it 
known  in  Paris,  the  ruffian  Marseillais  —  a  horde,  some 
five  hundred  strong,  of  the  vilest  and  most  brutal  of 
the  floating  population  of  a  Mediterranean  sea-port 
town,  who  were  summoned  to  Paris  by  Barbaroux  for 
the  purpose  of  exciting  and  assisting  at  the  atrocities 
of  1792.  Headed  by  the  wretch  Santerre,  they 
marched  into  Paris,  and  through  its  principal  streets, 
on  the  30th  of  July  in  that  year,  a  band  of  swarthy, 
fierce,  travel-soiled  desperados,  wearing  red  Pb^T~' 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  51 

caps  wreathed  with  green  leaves,  dragging  cannon, 
and  singing  as  they  marched,  a  song  beginning  : 

"  Allons,  enfans  de  la  patrie, 

Le  jour  de  gloire  est  arrive  ! 

Centre  nous,  de  la  tyrannic 

L'etendard  sanglant  est  leve. 

Entendez  vous  dans  ces  campaignes 

Mugir  ces  feroces  soldats ! 

Us  viennentj usque  dans  vos  bras 

Egorger  vos  fils  et  vos  compagnes ! — 
Aux  armes,  citoyens  !  formez  vos  bataillons ! 
Marchons!  qu'  un  sang  impur  abreuve  nos  sillons!" 

These  inflaming  accents  were  just  suited  to  the  in 
tense  craving  of  the  morbid  appetite  created  by  the 
revolution;  they  at  once  stimulated  and  gratified, 
though  they  could  not  slake  it;  and  on  that  day 
Paris  drank  in  with  greedy  ears  an  intoxication  from 
which,  in  spite  of  certain  seeming  intervals  of 
imposed  restraint,  she  has  been  reeling  ever  since. 

But  who  had  done  this  ?  Not  a  Marseillais,  not  a 
sans-culotte,  not  even  a  revolutionist.  Rouget  de  Lisle 
was  none  of  these,  but  an  accomplished  officer,  an 
enthusiast  for  liberty  it  is  true,  but  no  less  a  champion 
of  justice,  and  an  upholder  of  constitutional  monar 
chy.  He  was  at  Strasbourg  early  in  1792.  One  day 
Dietrich,  the  mayor  of  the  town,  who  knew  him  well, 
asked  him  to  write  a  martial  song  to  be  sung  on  the 
departure  of  six  hundred  volunteers  who  would  soon 
set  out  to  join  the  army  of  the  Khine.  De  Lisle  con 
sented,  wrote  the  song  that  night — the  words  some 
times  coming  to  him  before  the  music,  sometimes  the 


52  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

music  before  the  words — and  gave  it  to  Dietrich  the  next 
morning.  As  is  not  uncommon  with  authors,  he  was 
at  first  dissatisfied  with  the  fruit  of  his  sudden  inspi 
ration,  and  as  he  handed  the  manuscript  to  the  mayor, 
he  said,  "  Here  is  what  you  asked  for;  but  I  fear  it 
is  not  very  good."  But  Dietrich  looked,  and  knew 
better.  They  went  to  the  harpsichord  with  Madame 
and  sang  it ;  they  gathered  the  band  of  the  theatre 
together  and  rehearsed  it ;  it  was  sung  in  the  public 
square,  and  excited  such  enthusiasm  that,  instead  of 
six  hundred  volunteers,  nine  hundred  left  Strasbourg 
for  the  army.  This  song  its  author  called  merely 
"  The  War-Song  of  the  Army  of  the  Khine"  (Chant 
de  guerre  de  Tarmee  du,  Rhin).  But  in  the  course  of  a 
few  months  it  worked  its  way  southwards,  and  became 
a  favorite  with  the  Marseillais,  who  carried  it  to  Paris, 
where  the  people,  knowing  nothing  of  its  name,  its 
author,  or  its  original  purpose,  spoke  of  it  simply  as 
"  the  Song  of  the  Marseillais, "  and  as  the  Marseillaise 
it  will  be  known  for  ever,  and  for  ever  be  the  rallying 
cry  of  France  against  tyranny. 

How  widely  do  the  histories  of  these  two  hymns 
differ,  and  how  characteristic  is  their  difference  of  the 
two  people  who  have  adopted  them !  The  British 
hymn,  like  the  British  constitution,  the  product  of  no 
man  and  of  no  time ;  the  origin  of  its  several  parts 
various  and  uncertain,  or  seen  darkly  through  the 
obscurity  of  the  past ;  its  elements  the  product  of 
different  peoples;  broached  at  first  in  secret,  and 
when  brought  to  light,  frowned  down  as  treasonable, 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  53 

heretical,  damnable;  but  at  length  openly  avowed, 
and  gradually  growing  into  favor;  modified,  cur 
tailed,  added  to  in  important  points  by  various  hands, 
yet  remaining  vitally  untouched ;  at  last  accepted 
because  it  is  no  longer  prudent  to  refuse  to  yield 
it  place;  and  finally  insisted  upon  as  the  time- 
honored  palladium  of  British  liberty.  The  Marseil 
laise,  written  to  order,  and  in  one  night,  to  meet  a 
sudden,  imperative  demand :  struck  out  at  the  white 
heat  of  unconscious  inspiration,  perfect  in  all  its  parts, 
totus,  teres,  atque  rotundus  ;  and  in  six  months  adopted 
by  the  people,  the  army,  and  the  legislature  of  the 
whole  nation.  The  air  of  the  one,  simple,  solid,  vigo 
rous,  dignified,  grand,  the  music  of  common  sense  and 
fixed  determination  ;  the  words,  though  poor  enough, 
mingling  trust,  and  prayer,  and  self-confidence,  and 
respect  for  whoever  is  above  us,  and  a  readiness  to 
light  stoutly  when  God  and  the  law  are  on  our  side : 
the  other  a  war  cry,  a  summons  to  instant  battle, 
warning,  appealing,  denouncing,  fiercely  threatening 
the  vengeance  of  the  Furies;  having  no  inspiration 
but  glory,  and  invoking  no  god  but  liberty  ;  beginning 
in  deliberate  enthusiasm,  and  ending  in  conscious 
frenzy. 

How  different  the  service  too,  to  which  the  two 
songs  have  been  put !  The  one  used  always  to  sus 
tain,  to  build  up,  to  perpetuate,  to  express  loyalty 
and  faithful  endurance ;  a  song  of  peace  and  plethoric 
festivity.  The  other,  the  signal  of  destruction,  the 
warning  note  of  revolution  ;  the  song  that  rises  from 
the  field  where  the  red  ploughshare  turns  up  petri* 


54  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

fied  abuses  to  the  light  of  heaven  and  vengeance 
stalks  between  the  stilts  ;  the  howl  of  famished  men, 
and  the  shriek  of  nursing  mothers  whose  breasts  are 
dry.  The  one  at  best  a  tonic,  but  mostly  sedative  in 
its  operation,  and  harmless  at  any  time :  the  other 
from  the  beginning  a  stimulant,  and  to  be  used  on  great 
occasions  only,  and  for  great  objects.  The  Giron 
dists  sang  the  first  four  lines  of  it,  as — except  one 
who  fell  before  his  judges,  struck  through  the  heart 
with  his  own  dagger — they  turned  away  from 
the  bloody  tribunal  which  had  condemned  them 
to  death  in  the  name  of  the  liberty  they  had 
done  so  much  to  gain.  At  the  battle  of  Jemappes, 
at  the  most  perilous  hour  of  that  long  doubtful 
day,  Dumouriez,  finding  his  right  wing  almost 
without  officers,  and  giving  way  before  the  fire 
of  the  Austrian  infantry  and  a  threatened  charge  of 
the  huzzars,  put  himself  at  the  head  of  his  battalions 
and  began  to  sing  the  Marseillaise  hymn,  then  not 
many  months  old ;  the  soldiers  joined  in  the  song, 
their  courage  rallied,  they  charged  and  carried  all 
before  them.  And  in  August  of  the  next  year  at  the 
fete  of  the  inauguration  of  the  constitution  (always  a 
fete  and  an  inauguration;!)  when  the  convention  and 
the  delegates  from  the  primary  assemblies,  including 
eighty-six  doyens — which  seems  to  be  French  for  the 
oldest  inhabitant — to  represent  the  eighty-six  depart 
ments,  assembled  with  a  throng  of  "  citizens  gene 
rally"  in  the  Place  de  la  Bastille  at  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning  around  a  great  fountain,  called  the  Fountain 
of  ,the  Regeneration,  as  soon  as  the  first  beams  of  the 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  55 

san  appeared,  they  saluted  him  by  singing  stanzas  to 
the  air  of  the  Marseillaise ;  and  then  the  President 
took  a  cup,  poured  out  before  the  sun  the  waters  of 
regeneration,  and  drank  thereof  himself,  and  passed 
the  cup  to  the  oldest  inhabitants,  and  they  also  drank 
thereof,  in  their  parochial  capacity.  These  ways  are 
not  the  ways  of  our  race.  Indeed,  even  if  Sir  John 
Cope  had  begun  to  sing  "God  Save  the  King"  at 
Preston-pans,  or  General  Hawley  had  in  like  manner 
lifted  up  his  voice  at  Falkirk,  or  General  McDowell  had 
favored  the  army  with  the  "  Star-Spangled  Banner" 
at  Manassas  (always  supposing  it  to  be  within  the 
compass  of  his  voice),  I  doubt  much  whether  they 
would  have  produced  any  change  in  the  fortunes  of 
those  battles ;  nay  I  fear  they  would  have  been 
greeted  only  with  unseemly  merriment.  Sir  John 
Cope's  regulars  would  still  have  "fled  in  the  utmost 
confusion  at  the  first  onset ;"  General  Hawley's  vete 
rans  would  have  been  "  broke  by  the  first  volley"  and 
"turned  their  backs  and  fled  in  the  utmost  conster 
nation;"  and  General  McDowell's  raw  volunteers, 
after  fighting  three  hours  and  a  half  against  an 
entrenched  enemy  in  superior  force,  and  driving  him 
a  two  miles  before  them,  would  still  have  been  seized 
with  a  sudden  panic  and  retreated  in  disgraceful  dis 
order  to  Washington,  leaving  their  enemy  so  crippled 
that  he  could  not,  even  if  he  dared,  pursue  them.* 

But  differing  thus  entirely  in  spirit  and  origin,  these 
celebrated  songs  have  one  historical  point  in  common, 

*  See  the  extracts  from  Southern  newspapers  and  letters   in  the 
"  Rebellion  Record." 


5 6  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

which,  is  interesting  in  itself,  and  full  of  significance  to 
such  folk  as  say,  Go  to,  let  us  make  a  national  hymn  : 
—they  have  both  been  perverted  from  their  original 
purpose.  The  British  hymn,  made  up,  as  we  have 
seen,  of  an  air  from  France,  and  words  from  Jacobite 
Scotland,  into  a  song  praying  for  the  scattering,  the 
confounding,  the  frustrating,  and  the  general  damna 
tion  of  the  reigning  family,  with  its  words  altered  by 
this  man  and  the  other,  and  its  melody  doctored  by 
this  musician  and  its  harmony  by  the  other,  has  come  to 
be  the  recognised  formal  expression  of  loyalty  to  the 
very  house  for  whose  overthrow  it  first  petitioned. 
And  as  to  the  Marseillaise,  the  purpose  of  its  author  is 
sadly  told  in  his  sad  fate.  Soon  proscribed  as  a  roy 
alist,  he  fled  from  France,  and  took  refuge  in  the 
Alps.  But  the  echoes  of  the  chord  that  he  so  unwit 
tingly  had  struck  pursued  him  even  to  the  mountain 
tops  of  Switzerland.  "  What,"  said  he  to  a  peasant 
guide  in  the  upper  fastnesses  of  the  border  range,  "  is 
this  song  that  I  hear — Allons,  enfans  de  la  patrie  f" 
"That?  That  is  the  Marseillaise."  And  thus,  suf 
fering  from  the  excesses  that  he  had  innocently  stimu 
lated,  he  first  learned  the  name  which  his  countrymen 
had  given  to  the  song  that  he  had  written.* 

*  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  complete  copies  of  the  Marseillaise 
Hymn  are  not  so  common  as  to  make  a  reproduction  of  the  whole 
song  unwelcome  here.  Most  copies  contain  only  three  stanzas,  the 
first,  second,  and  sixth,  and  those  only  are  sung  as  the  national  hymn  ; 
Lut  the  third,  fourth,  and  fifth,  are  interesting  from  the  marks  they 
bear  of  the  occasion  on  which  they  were  written.  In  the  fifth,  there 
is  even  a  denunciation  of  Marshal  Bouille,  by  name : — 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  57 

But  from  the  purpose  built  into  its  very  structure, 
and  breathing  in  its  every  word,  the  Marseillaise  can- 

CHANT  DE  GUERRE  DE  L'ARMEE  DTJ  RHIN. 

BY   ROUGET    D'LISLE. 
1. 

Aliens,  enfans  de  la  patrie, 

Le  jour  de  gloire  est  arrive ! 

Centre  nous,  de  la  tyrannie 

L'etendard  sanglant  est  leve. 

Entendez-vous  dans  ces  campagnes 

Mugir  ces  feroces  soldats ! 

Us  viennent  j  usque  dans  vos  bras 

Egorger  vos  fils  et  vos  compagnes ! — 
Aux  armes,  citoyens !  formez  vos  bataillons  1 
Marchons  1  qu'un  sang  impur  abreuve  nos  sillons ! 
2. 

Que  veut  cette  horde  d'esclaves, 

De  traitres,  de  rois  conjures  ? 

Pour  qui  ces  ignobles  entraves, 

Ces  fers  des  longtemps  prepares  ? 

Francais,  pour  vous;  ah,  quel  outrage! 

Quels  transports  il  doit  exciter ! 

C'est  vous  qu'on  ose  mediter 

De  rendre  a  1'antique  esclavage. 
Aux  armes,  citoyens !  formez  vos  bataillons ! 
Marchons !  qu'un  sang  impur  abreuve  nos  sillons  I 
3. 

Quoi !  ces  cohortes  etrangeres 

Feraient  la  loi  dans  nos  foyers  ? 

Quoi  ?  ces  phalanges  mercenaires 

Terrasseraient  nos  peres  guerriers. 

Grand  Dieu !  par  des  mains  enchainees, 

Nos  fronts  sous  le  joug  se  ploieraient ; 

Des  vils  despots  deviendraient 

Les  maitres  de  nos  destinees ! 
Aux  armes,  citoyens !  formez  vos  bataillons ! 
Marchons!  qu'un  sang  impur  abreuve  nos  sillons! 
"    3* 


58  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

not  be  perverted.  It  is  a  war  song,  and  is  only  suited 
to  the  periods  when  the  liberties  of  the  nation  are 
threatened.  Therefore,  other  national  airs  are  per- 

4. 

Tremblez,  tyrans  !  et  vous,  perfides, 

L'opprobre  de  tous  les  partis ! 

Tremblez,  vos  projets  parricides 

Vorit  enfin  recevoir  leur  prix ! 

Tout  est  soldat  pour  vous  combattre: 

S'ils  tombent  nos  jeunes  heros, 

La  France  en  produitdes  nouveaux, 

Centre  vous  tout  prets  a  se  battre. 
Aux  armes,  eitoyens  !  formez  vos  bataillons ! 
Marchons !  qu'un  sang  impur  abreuve  nos  sillons ! 
5. 

Frangais,  en  guerriers  magnanimes, 

Portez  ou  retenez  vos  coups  ; 

^pargnez  ces  tristes  victimes, 

A  regret  s'armant  centre  vous. 

Mais  ces  despotes  sanguinaires, 

Mais  ces  complices  de  Bouille, 

Tous  ces  tigres  sans  pitie, 

Dechirent  le  sein  de  leur  mere. 
Aux  armes,  eitoyens !  formez  vos  bataiilons. 
Marchons  I  qu'un  sang  impur  abreuve  nos  sillons ! 
6. 

Amour  sacre  de  la  patrie, 

Conduis,  soutiens  nos  bras  vengeurs  ' 

Liberte,  liberte  cherie, 

Combats  avec  tes  defenseurs  I 

Sous  nos  drapeaux  que  la  Yictoire 

Accoure  §,  tes  mdles  accents ; 

Que  tes  ennemis  expirants 

Voient  ton  triomphe  et  notre  gloire  I 
Aux  armes,  eitoyens !  formez  vos  bataillons ! 
Marchons!  qu'un  sang  impur  abreuve  nos  sillons  1 
STRASBOURG,  1792. 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  59 

formed  on  ordinary  occasions.  "  Partant  pour  la 
Syrie"  attributed  to  Queen  Ilortense,  is,  with  no  special 
propriety,  the  recognised  French  air  at  present.  "  God 
save  the  King  "  has  the  advantage  of  being  suited  to 
all  times  and  seasons;  so  while  there  is  a  king  in 
Great  Britain  no  other  song  will  take  its  place.  And 
this  will  be  a  very  long  time ;  much  longer  than  many 
people  think.  For  not  only  is  John  Bull,  as  I  heard 
a  distinguished  British  statesman  say,  "a  lord-loving 
animal ;  he  is  a  king-worshipping  creature  also.  He 
may  daily  devote  his  own  soul  to  perdition,  but  he 
devoutly  prays  for  the  queen  and  all  the  royal  family. 
Pie  delights  in  the  very  epithet  royal,  and  unless  some 
of  his  heartiness  is  bred  out  of  him,  utters  it  with 
unctuous  relish.  He  rises  in  his  own  respect  by 
dealing  with  the  grocer  to  her  Majesty ;  and  his  eye 
beams  complacently  upon  the  crown  stamped  on  his 
pickle  jar.  Kingship  will  never  be  driven  out  from 
that  land ;  it  will  be  solicitously  retained  while  it  is 
gradually  robbed  of  even  the  semblance  of  prerogative, 
until  at  length  there  will  be  somebody  called  a  king 
there  who  has  less  power  than  a  constable.  And 
when  at  last  the  shadow  of  royalty  has  become  so 
faint  that  even  British  eyes  can  see  nothing  on  the 
throne  but  velvet  and  vacuity,  and  nothing  in  the  crown 
but  emptiness,  when  the  game  of  monarchy  is  played 
out,  and  "God  Save  the  King"  cannot  be  sung  because 
there  is  no  king  to  save,  be  sure  that  a  new 
national  hymn  will  not  be  written.  The  old  air 
will  be  preserved ;  the  words  will  be  altered  as  little  as 
possible,  and  perverted  as  much  as  possible,  so  that 


60  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

Britons,  though  they  no  longer  express  their  "  respect 
for  their  monarch,"  can  yet  give  utterance  to  their 
"  national  pride,"  as  nearly  as  may  be  in  the  good 
old  way.* 

*  A  gentleman  who  has  seen  the  proofs  of  these  pages  as  they  pass 
ed  through  the  press,  has  laid  upon  my  table  the  following  verses  as 
a  rough  sketch  of  the  form  which  the  British  national  hymn  might 
conveniently  take  at  the  period  referred  to  above : — 

GOD  SAVE  JOHN  BULL. 
God  save  me,  great  John  Bull ! 
Long  keep  my  pocket  full ! 

God  save  John  Bull  I 
Ever  victorious, 
Haughty,  vain-glorious, 
Snobbish,  censorious, 

God  save  John  Bull  I 

0  Lords,  our  gods,  arise ! 
"  Tax ' '  all  our  enemies, 

Make  tariffs  fall ! 
Confound  French  politics, 
Frustrate  all  Russian  tricks, 
Get  Yankees  in  a  "fix," 

God  "bless"  them  all!      [Sinistrd  manu.] 

Thy  choicest  gifts  in  store, 
On  me,  me  only  pour, — 

Me,  great  John  Bull ! 
Maintain  oppressive  laws, 
Frown  down  the  poor  man's  cause ! 
So  sing  with  heart  and  voice, 

I,  great  John  Bull. 

But  rough  as  this  sketch  is,  I  cannot  present  it  even  thus,  without 
expostulating  with  my  friend  on  his  grave,  and  I  fear  mischievous 
misrepresentations  of  the  British  character  and  policy.  I  must  protest 
against  it,  also,  as  an  ungrateful  return  for  the  candor,  the  courtesy, 
and  the  genuine  good  feeling  with  which  American  affairs  have 
always,  and  especially  of  late,  been  discussed  in  Great  Britain. 


Y. 

Less  fortunate  as  we  are  than  British  subjects  and 
French  citizens,  in  having  no  national  hymn,  the 
history  of  theirs  is  not  very  encouraging  to  an  attempt 
to  obtain  one  deliberately.  But  in  that  need  of  one 
which  was  felt  j  ust  after  the  breaking  out  of  our  great 
pro-slavery  insurrection,  a  number  of  gentlemen  were 
requested  to  act  as  a  committee  to  offer  a  prize  for 
the  words  and  music  of  a  hymn  which,  in  their  judg 
ment,  might  be  to  us  something  like  what  the  British 
and  French  hymns  are  to  those  nations.  It  has  been 
said  that  this  committee  was  self-appointed ;  but  that 
was  not  the  case.  The  notion  of  thus-  calling  for  a 
national  hymn,  I  know  did  not  even  originate  with 
any  member  of  the  committee,- but  with  an  intelligent 
gentleman  whose  warm  patriotic  feeling  led  him  to 
be  active  in  the  matter.  At  first  it  was  proposed  to 
place  the  matter  in  the  hands  of  three  gentlemen,  one 
from  New  York,  Bostonr  and  Philadelphia,  respect 
ively  ;  but  the  inconvenience  of  this  plan  soon  became 


62  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

apparent,  and  the  New  York  committee  was  appointed. 
All  who  were  asked  heartily  consented  to  serve ;  but 
not  one  of  them  expressed  any  confidence  in  the  suc 
cess  of  the  undertaking.  Yet  as  there  was  a  great 
desire  expressed  for  the  hymn  on  all  sides,  and  as  the 
occasion  was  propitious  for  its  production,  they  wil 
lingly  said  Yes,  instead  of  No.  They  felt  much  like 
the  Bowery  boy  who,  being  cut  short  in  a  hard  life 
by  a  sore  disease,  which  quickly  brought  him  to 
death's  door,  was  informed  by  his  physician  that 
medicine  could  do  nothing  for  him.  "What's  my 
chances,  doctor?"  "Not  worth  speaking  of."  "One 
in  twenty?"  "Oh,  no."  "In  thirty?"  "No." 
"  Fifty  ?"  "  I  think  not."  "  A  hundred  ?"  "  Well, 
perhaps  there  may  be  one  in  a  hundred."  "  I 
say,  then,  doctor,"  pulling  him  close  down,  and 
whispering  with  feeble  earnestness  in  his  ear,  "jess 
you  go  in  like  h —  on  that  one  chance."  The  doctor 
"  went  in,"  and  the  patient  recovered.  The  chance  that 
there  was,  the  members  of  the  committee  did  not  feel 
at  liberty  to  refuse. 

There  was  special  reason,  too,  at  the  time  of  the 
appointment  of  the  committee,  for  the  hope  that  it 
might  accomplish  its  object.  The  excited  feeling  of 
the  country  vented  itself  in  verse  to  a  most  remark 
able  extent.  Newspapers  which  undertook  to  gather 
these  effusions  of  popular  sentiment  together  from 
various  quarters,  filled  column  after  column  with 
them,  and  sometimes  page  after  page.  The  greater 
part  of  these  verses  were  unmitigated  nonsense,  it  is 
true.;  much  of  the  residue  was  commonplace ;  but 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  63 

really  spirited  and  well- written  compositions  appeared 
with  sufficient  frequency,  considering  what  a  very 
rare  production  good  lyric  poetry  is,  to  give  color  to 
the  hope  that  from  some  poet  of  reputation,  or  from 
some  other  who  had  his  reputation  to  make,  the 
wished-for  song  would  come. 

The  following  verses  were  written  about  that  time. 
The  reader  will  remember  how  intently  the  whole 
country  had  watched  Fort  Sumter  through  four  long 
months  (it  seems  as  if  it  had  been  four  years,  and  had 
happened  twenty  years  ago  !)  and  with  what  intense 
feeling  they  learned  that  Major  Anderson  had  struck 
his  flag  when  the  fort  became  untenable,  and  had 
evacuated,  not  surrendered,  the  post,  raising  his  flag 
again  and  saluting  it ;  and  this  happening  on  Satur 
day,  how  on  Monday  morning  the  eye  could  hardly 
turn,  north  of  the  Potomac,  without  being  gladdened 
by  the  sight  of  the  American  flag, — how  dear  to  us, 
we  of  this  generation  never  knew  till  then ! 

THE  FLAG-. 

BY  HORATIO    WOODMAN. 

Why  flashed  that  flag  on  Monday  morn 

Across  the  startled  sky  ? 
Why  leapt  the  blood  to  every  cheek, 

The  tears  to  every  eye  ? 
The  hero  in  our  four  months'  woe, 

The  symbol  of  our  might, 
Together  sunk  for  one  brief  hour, 

To  rise  for  ever  bright. 

The  mind  of  Cromwell  claimed  his  own, 
The  blood  of  Naseby  streamed 


64  NATIONAL  I^YMNS. 

Through  hearts  unconscious  of  the  fire, 

Till  that  torn  banner  gleamed. 
The  seeds  of  Milton's  lofty  thoughts. 

All  hopeless  of  the  spring, 
Broke  forth  in  joy,  as  through  them  glowed 

The  life  great  poets  sing. 

Old  Greece  -was  young,  and  Homer  true, 

And  Dante's  burning  page 
Flamed  in  the  red  along  our  flag,  • 

And  kindled  holy  rage. 
God's  Gospel  cheered  the  sacred  cause, 

In  stern,  prophetic  strain, 
Which  makes  His  Right  our  covenant, 

His  Psalms  our  deep  refrain. 

Oh,  sad  for  him  whose  light  went  out 

Before  this  glory  came, 
"Who  could  not  live  to  feel  his  kin 

To  every  noble  name  ; 
And  sadder  still  to  miss  the  joy 

That  twenty  millions  know, 
In  Human  Nature's  Holiday, 

From  all  that  makes  life  low. 
BoetOH,  April,  1861. 

A  condition  of  the  general  mind  which  brought 
forth  on  the  spur  of  the  occasion  a  lyric  so  vigorous, 
so  inspiring,  so  vividly  expressive  of  the  sentiment 
that  stirred  the  heart  of  the  nation,  was  surely  one 
from  which  another,  breathing  the  same  spirit  in  like 
stirring  accents,  and  of  general  application,  might 
reasonably  be  hoped.  And  so  the  committee  cast  out 
its  net,  and  waited  patiently  for  the  dawning.  Not  only, 
however,  was  all  not  to  be  fish  that  came  to  that  net, 
but,  like  the  cat-fishing  negro  who  rejected  with  aus- 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  65 

tere  self-denial  the  bass  which  he  found  upon  his  hook, 
because  "  when  he  fished  for  bass,  he  fished  for  bass, 
but  when  he  fished  for  catty,  he  fished  for  catty,"  the 
committee  would  have  what  it  sought  or  nothing,  no 
matter  how  much  better  fish  insisted  upon  swallowing 
the  bait;  and  as  to  getting  its  "catty,"  it  had  the 
gravest  doubts.  The  prize  was  therefore  not  offered 
for  the  best  hymn  -that  should  be  written,  but  for  the 
hymn  needed,  and  if  that,  in  the  judgment  of  the 
committee,  did  not  come,  no  matter  how  much  supe 
rior  uan  article"  of  another  style  were  offered,  all 
were  to  be  rejected.*  It  is  worth  while  to  state 

*  The  following  are  the  call  and  the  conditions  of  competition  pub 
lished  by  the  committee : 

A  NATIONAL  HYMN. 

In  obedience  to  the  request  of  many  citizens,  who  have  observed 
the  tendency  to  give  poetic  expression  to  the  emotion  which  stirs  the 
heart  of  the  nation,  the  gentlemen  whose  names  are  undersigned  have 
consented  to  act  as  a  Committee  to  award  a  prize  of  Five  Hundred 
Dollars  for  a  National  Hymn,  set  to  music  (either  original  or  selected), 
upon  the  following  conditions : 

1.  The  Hymn  is  to  be  purely  patriotic,  adapted  to  the  whole  coun 
try — not  a  war-song,  or  only  appropriate  to  the  present  moment 

2.  It  must  consist  of  not  less  than  sixteen  lines,  and  is  not  to  ex 
ceed  forty,  exclusive  of  a  chorus  or  burden,  which  is  essential. 

3.  It  should  be  of  the  simplest  form  and  most  marked  rhythm ;  the 
words  easy  to  be  retained  by  the  popular  memory,  and.  the  melody 
and  harmony  such  as  may  be  readily  sung  by  ordinary  voices. 

4.  For  the  words  and  music  (whether  the  latter  be  original,  or 
selected  and  adapted)  from  the  same  hand,   which  the  Committee 
would  prefer,  Five  Hundred  Dollars,  or  a  gold  medal  of  that  value,, 
will  be  awarded.      For  the  Hymn  alone,  or  for  the  music  alone  (if ; 
original),  Two  Hundred  and  Fifty  Dollars,  or  a  gold  medal  of  that> 
value. 

5.  The  Committee  retain  the  copyright  of  both  words  and  music  of 
the  Hymn  to  which  the  prize  is  awarded ;  and  reserve  the  right  of 
rejecting  all  contributions,  whatever  their  merit,  should  none  of  them 
be  deemed  suitable. 

6.  The  profits  of  the  sale  of  the  Hymn  are  to  be  devoted  to  the 
Patriotic  Fund. 


66  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

this  very  explicitly ;  because  although  it  was  clearly 
enough  set  forth  in  the  committee's  proposals,  many 
persons,  some  .of  them  intelligent  enough  to  know 
better,  if  they  had  read  those  proposals,  have  com 
plained  of  the  final  decision,  as  if  the  committee  had 
done  the  competitors  wrong  in  not  awarding  the  prize 
to  some  one  of  them.  Not  a  few  also,  and  invariably 
the  authors  of  those  hymns  which  had  the  least  claim 
to  consideration,  seemed  to  think  that  the  committee 
was  bound  to  coddle  their  feelings,  to  flatter  their 
vanity,  and  to  enter  into  personal  correspondence 
with  them ;  and  in  fact  that  the  committee  had  placed 
itself  under  some  obligations  to  competitors :  when 
the  real  state  of  the  case  was  that  the  obligation  was 
all  on  the  other  side.  The  committee  merely  accepted 
the  responsibility  and  the  labor  of  examining  and 

7.  The  words  and  music  must  be  furnished  by  the  20th  day  of  June 
next. 

8.  As  the  Committee  may  desire  to  publish  a  selection  from  the 
manuscripts  in  a  volume  in  aid  of  the  Patriotic  Fund,  they  request 
those  writers  who  are  willing  that  their  productions  should  be  used 
for  that  purpose  to  signify  their  assent. 

9.  Individual  applications  to  members  of  the  Committee  will  be 
disregarded. 

10.  Each  Hymn  offered  must  be  distinguished  only  by  a  motto  or 
cipher,  and  be  accompanied  by  a  sealed  envelope  bearing  the  same 
motto  or  cipher,  and  containing  the  writer's  name  and  address.     AR 
communications  should  be  addressed  to  Maunsell  B.  Field,  Esq.,  Secre 
tary  of  the  National  Hymn  Committee,  New  York  city. 

11.  The  Committee  will  return  no  manuscripts. 
G-TJLIAN  C.  VERPLANCK.  JOHN  A.  Dix. 
CHARLES  KING.  M.  H.  GRINNELL. 
HAMILTON  FISH.  LUTHER  BRADISH. 
GEORGE  WM.  CURTIS.                        RICH'D  GRANT  WHITE. 
J.  J.  Cisco.  JOHN  R.  BRODHEAD. 
GEORGE  T.  STRONG.  .  ARTHUR  LEARY. 

MAUNSELL  B.  FIELD. 

NEW  YOKS,  May  1Z,  186L 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  67 

comparing  all  the  songs  that  might  be  sent  in,  and  of 
deciding  whether  such  a  hymn  had  been  sent  as  in 
their  opinion  would  meet  the  public  necessity ;  nothing- 
more. 

The  call,  having  been  made  the  subject  of  news 
paper  comment  throughout  the  country,  met  with  a 
response,  for  the  extent  of  which  the  committee  were 
not  prepared.  Nearly  twelve  hundred  competitors 
appeared  upon  the  field.  Manuscripts  came  from  all 
quarters  of  the  country,  including  California,  nay,  even 
from  England,  and  at  last  from  Italy.  The  commit 
tee  went  at  its  work  at  the  earliest  moment,  and  per 
formed  it  as  rapidly  as  the  other  engagements  of  its 
various  members  permitted. 

The  twelve  hundred  competitors  at  least,  will  like 
to  know  that  this  was  the  manner  of  proceeding. 
The  manuscripts  containing  words  alone  were  first 
opened,  the  music  being  laid  aside  for  separate  con 
sideration.  The  verses  were  then  read  by  the  mem 
ber  who  opened  the  envelope  containing  them.  If 
they  were  condemned  at  once  by  a  nearly  unanimous 
voice,  they  were  cast  into  a  waste-basket  ready  at 
hand ;  if  not,  they  were  reserved  for  future  considera 
tion.  But,  by  a  waste-basket,  must  not  be  under 
stood  any  of  those  ordinary  wicker  -concavities,  known 
to  mortals  by  that  name.  A  vast  washing-basket — a 
"  buck-basket,"  big  enough  to  hold  Falstaff  himself — 
was  made  the  temporary  tomb  of  these  extinguished 
hopes  :  and  this  receptacle  was  filled  five  times  with 
rejected  manuscripts,  which  were  seized  upon  for  in 
cendiary  purposes  by  the  cooks  of  the  gentlemen  at 


63  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

whose  houses  the  meetings  of  the  Committee  took 
place.  Alas,  for  the  hapless  writers !  Were  even 
the  priceless  manuscript  plays  of  the  Shakespearian 
age  that  Warton's  cook  purloined,  and  used  to  put 
under  pies,  so  lamented  as  those  remorselessly  in 
cremated  hymns  will  be  ?  The  mass  of  these  manu 
scripts  were  "  only  of  interest  to  their  writers,"  or, 
in  plain  terms,  either  the  flattest  common-place,  or 
absolutely  neither  rhyme  nor  reason.  From  the 
whole  collection,  only  about  thirty  were  reserved  as 
worthy  of  a  second  reading,  and  these,  on  a  second 
and  third  examination,  were  reduced  about  one-half. 
The  hymns  sent  in  with  music  were  about  three 
hundred  in  number.  To  enable  them  fairly  to  judge 
the  merits  of  these,  the  Committee  called  in  compe 
tent  musical  aid,  and  after  a  winnowing  of  the.  heap 
over  the  piano-forte,  those  which  were  found  worthy 
of  a  more  particular  hearing  were  sung.  This  second 
examination  left  less  than  twenty  musical  compositions 
in  the  hands  of  the  Committee.  Among  the  rejected 
musical  manuscripts  were  very  many  that  were  evi 
dently  written  by  persons  who  were  ignorant  of  the 
very  first  principles  of  harmony,  and  who  to  their 
ignorance  added  utter  lack  of  native  musical  capacity.* 

*  The  committee  were  under  obligations,  which  I  venture  here  to 
express  for  them,  to  Mr.  William  Soharfenberg,  and  to  Mr.  Cut 
ler,  Organist  of  Trinity  Church,  and  some  members  of  the  choir  of 
that  venerable  establishment.  These  gentlemen  placed  their  time  and 
talents  at  the  service  of  the  committee,  with  heartiness  and  alacrity ; 
and  though  gracefully  leaving  judgment  upon  the  merits  of  the  com 
positions  placed  before  them  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  committee, 
did  much  to  lighten  and  to  aid  their  labors. 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  69 

The  meetings,  except  the  first  and  second,  were 
graced  and  enlivened  by  the  presence  of  a  very  few 
ladies,  whose  discreet  reserve  of  their  opinions  did 
not  deprive  the  committee  entirely  of  the  benefit  of 
their  quick  intelligence  and  highly  cultivated  taste. 
The  sportive  peremp  tori  ness  with  which  they  cried 
"  basket,"  upon  the  reading  of  a  song  which  at  once 
depressed  the  spirits  of  the  critical  tribunal,  quite 
rivalled  the  pretty  austerity  with  which  the  Koman 
ladies  turned  down  their  thumbs  upon  the  poor 
gladiator,  who  was  so  weak  as  to  implore  their  pity 
instead  of  conquering  their  admiration.  And  slan 
derous  asserters  of  the  curiosity  of  the  sex  will  blush 
to  learn  that  these  ladies  did  not  even  put  the  com 
mittee  to  the  pain  of  refusing  them  a  single  peep  into 
the  sealed  envelopes  containing  the  authors'  names ; 
although  the  feminine  hands  upon  so  many  of  the 
queer  productions,  gave  tempting  occasion  for  the 
indulgence  of  a  little  innocent  malice,  at  the  expense 
of  a  cerulean  sister. 

But  what  was  the  standard  by  which  the  hymns 
were  tried  ?  The  conditions  stated  in  the  first  three 
paragraphs  of  the  committee's  proposal  were  of  course 
insisted  on.  I  venture  to  say  that  they  are  both  in 
trinsically  and  relatively  good ;  and  that  no  song  which 
does  not  conform  to  them  will  ever  be  adopted  as  our 
national  hyrnn.  That  it  should  be  purely  patriotic 
and  adapted  to  the  whole  country  in  its  normal  state, 
no  one  will  dispute.  That  a  mere  war  song  is  not 
needed  even  by  a  people  who  are  so  eager  for  mili 
tary  glory  as  the  French,  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 


7o  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

they  keep  their  Marseillaise  for  extraordinary  occa 
sions.  It  has  been  well  said  by  one  of  the  members  of 
the  Committee — Mr.  Curtis — "  Any  truly  patriotic 
national  hymn  is,  of  necessity,  the  great  peace  song 
and  the  great  war  song  of  the  nation.  It  fits  every 
emotion  of  the  national  heart.  It  is  the  national 
heart-beat  set  to  music."  A  song  of  less  than  sixteen 
lines  cannot  well  say  enough,  and  one  of  more  than 
about  forty  is  too  long  to  be  remembered.  Here  the 
Marseillaise — cut  down  from  the  original  six  to  three 
stanzas — again  furnishes  illustration  and  support. 
A  chprus  is  necessary ;  for  the  main  object  is  that  a 
throng  of  people  may  join  in  the  hymn,  and  it  is  not 
reasonable  to  expect  that  a  miscellaneous  crowd  of 
Americans  should  master  the  whole  of  a  song,  words 
and  music.  Nor  is  it  desirable ;  the  effect  of  contrast 
in  solo  and  chorus  is  too  fine  to  lose.  That  a  song, 
intended  to  please  all,  to  dwell  in  all  ears,  and  to 
suit  all  ordinary  voices,  should  be  simple  in  melody 
and  harmony,  and  marked  in  rhythm,  I  apprehend 
that  no  one  will  dispute.  In  these  respects,  "  God  Save 
the  King"  is  a  model,  unsurpassable,  almost  unap 
proachable  for  us  at  least.  The  broken  rhythm  of 
the  melody  of  the  Marseillaise  and  the  modulations 
upon  which  its  melody  depends,  would  unfit  it  for 
popular  singing  by  a  nation  of  our  race.  Yet  we 
might  well  accept  a  somewhat  more  spirited,  though 
not  less  regular,  melody  than  that  of  "  God  Save  the 
King." 

But  these  are  only  the  formal,  and  so  to  speak  the 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  71 

external  conditions  of  our  national  hymn.  What 
should  be  its  spirit  and  its  style  ?  Must  it  needs  have 
great  lyric  excellence?  Should  it  be  enriched  by 
imagination  and  fancy  ?  What  should  be  its  motive  ? 
For  what  should  it  express  love  and  admiration  ?  to 
what,  devotion  ?  What  should  be  the  style  of  its 
music  ?  These  are  hard  questions.  For  to  prescribe 
what  will  suit  the  public  taste  and  touch  the  popular 
heart,  is  the  most  delicate,  difficult,  and  uncertain 
office  that  could  be  assumed.  No  degree  of  culture, 
no  keenness  of  perception,  not  even  a  high  degree  of 
responsive  sympathy  can  insure  a  happy  choice.  The 
chord  that  will  thrill  the  heart  of  a  nation  when 
struck,  however  casually,  cannot  be  certainly  desig 
nated.  The  most  gifted  poet  or  rapt  musician  might 
fail  to  arrest  the  popular  attention  when  he  essayed 
to  sing,  not  only  to  the  people,  but  for  them  ;  while 
some  chance-uttered  strain,  expressing  only  the  emo 
tion  of  a  simple,  untaught  nature,  might  be  caught  up, 
spontaneously  adopted,  and  become  the  rallying  note 
of  a  whole  nation. 

To  try  a  national  hymn  by  a  high  critical  standard  ; 
to  demand  for  it  an  unusual  degree  of  lyric  merit,  and 
to  insist  that  the  poetry  should  be  equal  to  the  theme, 
would  be  a  grave  critical  error.  Such  a  standard  as 
this  is  false  for  any  song  that  is  written  to  be  sung, 
"  Music  married  to  immortal  verse,"  is  a  very  fine 
thing  for  a  poet  to  write  about ;  but  an  almost  impos 
sible  thing  to  find.  Apollo  seems  to  have  forbidden 
the  bans  of  that  much  desired  union.  There,  indeed, 
are  some  rare  exceptions  to  this  general  rule.  Of  the 


72  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

lovely  canzonet,  "  She  never  told  her  love,"  for 
instance,  the  words  are  by  Shakespeare  and  the  music 
by  Haydn.  Illustrious  conjunction!  And  yet, 
although  its  sentiment  is  one  which  all  the  world 
must  feel,  how  rarely  is  it  heard !  It  is  remarkable 
that  most  popular  songs  are  of  very  moderate,  if  not 
decidedly  inferior,  poetic  merit ;  and  that  their  music 
rarely  delights  ears  which  listen  to  songs  purely  for 
music's  sake  ;  which  people  of  our  race  generally  do 
not.  But  they  will  almost  invariably  be  found  to 
express  or  suggest  some  strong  sentiment  common  to 
the  people  among  whom  they  are  sung,  or  to  bring 
up  vividly  some  cherished  association.  Few  poorer 
songs  have  lived  for  half  a  century  than  "  Home, 
sweet  home  ;"  and  yet  it  shall  bring  tears  into  a  thou 
sand  manly  eyes  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac  sooner 
than  the  most  pathetic  strain  of  Pergolesi  or  Bellini. 
That  the  popular  taste  is  sympathetic  rather  than 
artistic,  must  be  seen  and  known  of  all  men.  In  a 
song  that  they  can  sing  with  their  whole  hearts,  peo 
ple  to  whom  music  and  poetry  are  not  special  gifts  or 
acquirements,  will  forgive  faults  of  structure  and  lan 
guage  which  would  drive  'a  critic  to  despair.  And 
who  thinks  of  or  cares  for  the  words  of  an  opera ! 
Unhappy  they  who  should !  But  there  it  is  the  situ 
ation  or  the  sentiment  alone  to  which  the  music  must 
be  moulded.  Cuore  and  a  wore,  "  verdant  plains"  and 
"  happy  swains"  answer  the  purpose  as  well  as  if 
Anacreon  or  Pindar  wrote.  For  music  is  its  own 
inspiration ;  and  words  are  but  the  occasion  of  its 
production,  and  the  vehicle  of  its  utterance.  Songs 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  73 

which  are  intrinsically  beautiful,  like  Shakespeare's, 
for  instance,  and  Herrick's,  need  no  music  to  com 
plete  their  lyric  expression.  They  are  both  words 
and  music,  and  sing  themselves.* 

If  a  high  lyric  standard  is  generally  false  for  songs 
written  for  music,  it  is  especially  so  when  applied  to 
a  national  hymn.  Lyric  beauties  are  not  essential  to 
those  songs  :  nay,  the  tribunal  which  passes  upon  this 
question  seems  to  have  decided  that  they  are  hardly 
admissible.  How  many  noble  lyrics  have  been  writ 
ten  by  British  authors;  songs  graced  with  all  the 
beauty  of  poetic  art,  aglow  with  patriotic  fervor,,  and 
sounding  with  a  pyrrhic  clash !  But  none  of  them 
have  really  attained  popularity  save  Thomson's  "Kule 
Britannia,"  which  has  the  least  poetic  merit  of  them 
all,  which  is  set  to  music  almost  ridiculous,  and  which 
has  attained  its  place  only  by  virtue  of  the  arrogant 
self-assertion  of  the  words,  and  particularly  the  preci 
pitate  assurance  of  the  chorus  that — 

"Britons  never,  never,  never,  shall  be  slaves." 
And  in  the  Marseillaise  there  are  none  of  the  graces 
of  poetry.     With  a  single  exception,  not  a  line  con- 

*  The  only  song  of  Shakespeare's  which  has  not  been  marred  by 
the  music  to  which  it  is  set  is  that  exquisite  one  in  "  As  You  Like  It," 
"  Blow,  blow,  thou  winter  wind,"  which  Dr.  Arne  gave  fitting  voice 
to  by  a  special  and,  I  believe,  an  isolated  inspiration.  As  to  the 
music  which  Locke  wrote  for  the  songs  in  "  Macbeth,"  truly  it  is  manu 
factured  after  a  very  workmanlike  fashion ;  but  is  otherwise  only 
valuable  as  an  example  of  the  degree  of  incongruity  which  there  may 
be  between  music  and  the  words  which  the  composer  believes  inspired 
it.  The  words  are  so  weird,  and  the  music  is  so  formal  and  respect 
able,  and  with  a  tie-wig  formality  and  respectability,,  that  the  effect  of 
the  combination  is  pure  burlesque. 

4 


74  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

tains  a  metaphor  or  a  conceit,  and  that  exception  is 
the  one  blot  upon  the  song ;  fallen,  too,  where  it  shows 
most,  in  the  last  line  of  the  chorus.  After  the  call 
"  Au&armes,  citoyensH  Formez  vos  bataillons  !"  and, — 
with  that  proud  step  into  the  major  key — "Mhrchons!" 
the  sequel,  "  qit?  un  sang  impur  abreuve  nos  sillons"  be 
littles  and  enfeebles  the  summons.  Men  who  are  in  a 
patriotic  frenzy  don't  stop  about  impure  blood  water 
ing  their  furrows.  They  go  to  their  object  straighter 
than  that.  But  Rouget  d'Lisle  needed  a  rhyme  for 
bataillons ;  we  remember  that  he  wrote  his  war  song 
in  one  night ;  and,  more  than  all,  the  weight  of  his 
superfluous  trope  is  borne  swiftly  from  our  ken  by 
the  mighty  sweep  of  his  fire- winged  melody. 

In  a  national  hymn  it  is  .neither  the  words  alone, 
nor  the  music  alone  ;  it  is  a  felicitous  combination  of 
music  and  poetic  interest.  This  may  be  attained  for 
tuitously,  or  at  least  unconsciously ;  but  attained,  it 
insures  immortality,  a  dwelling-place  in  the  heart  of  a 
whole  nation.  The  words  must  express  with  fervid 
directness  the  central  conviction  and  predominating 
sentiment  of  the  people.  This  should  have  a  strong 
and  simple  utterance  in  a  verse  of  four  accents  ;  the 
language  being  succinct  and  nervous,  the  style  glow 
ing  and  lively.  Imagination,  vivid  and  robust,  may 
liave  brief  scope ;  but  fancy  should  have  little  play, 
and  high  finish  should  not  be  sought  for.  To  such 
words  there  should  be  written  what  puritan  John 
Sternhold  would  call  u  apt  notes  to  sing  them  withal." 
A  square  melody  is  the  best  for  the  same  reason  that 
a  verse  *©f  four  accents  is  to  be  preferred,  because  the 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  75 

ear  catches  and  the  memory  retains  such  melody  and 
such  verse  more  easily  than  any  other. * 

As  to  a  hymn  for  Americans,  it  must  of  all  things 
proclaim,  assert,  and  exult  in  the  freedom  of  those 
who  are  to  sing  it.  Let  this  be  the  expression ; 
let  it  be  brimful  of  loyalty  to  the  flag,  which  is 
our  only  national  symbol,  and  for  that  all  the  dearer  ; 
let  its  allusions  be  to  our  fathers'  struggle  for  na 
tional  existence,  and  its  spirit  be  that  of  our  nation 
ality  ;  let  it  have  a  strong,  steady,  rhythmical  flow ; 
and  these  points  secured  as  to  the  words,  the  air 
is  the  most  important  matter.  If  that  be  such  a  one 
as  all  who  sing  can  sing,  and  as  the  majority  will 
like,  association  and  habit  will  accomplish  the  rest. 
The  music  must  not  be  brilliant  like  an  Italian  cava- 
tina ;  or  curiously  harmonized  like  a  G-erman  choral ; 
but  simple  and  strong,  with  a  graceful,  lively  strength. 
A  song  which  fulfilled  these  conditions,  and  which 
superadded  to  their  requirements  the  inspiration  that 
would  set  them  all  at  naught,  or  make  them  entirely 
superfluous,  would  pervade  and  penetrate,  and  cheer 
the  land  like  sunlight. 

But  how  hard  it  is  to  lay  down  rules  which  shall 
be  unfailing  guides  upon  a  subject  like  this,  may  be 

*  A  square  melody  is  one  consisting  of  four  phrases  of  equal  length, 
the  last  ending  on  the  harmony  on  which  the  first  began,  or  of  two  or 
more  groups  based  upon  this  formula,  which  will  be  found  to  be  the 
model  of  almost  all  melodies,  either  ballad,  martial,  or  operatic,  that 
have  become  popular.  "  Auld  Lang  Syne"  is  a  marked  example. 
The  first  phrase  ends  upon  the  dominant ;  the  second  upon  the  sub- 
dominant  ;  the  third  upon  the  dominant ;  and  the  fourth,  of  course, 
upon  the  tonic,  whence  the  first  started. 


76  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

seen  by  the  following  stanza  of  a  hymn  which  has 
the  air  of  having  been  written  by  one  of  those  gentle 
men  whom  the  English  journalists  and  draughtsmen, 
including  those  in  the  employ  of  "  Punch,"  seem  to 
regard  as  our  representative  men. 

We  air  the  greatest  nation 
In  all  the  Lord's  creation. 

We  air  the  hull  world's  wonder, 

En  we  hev  the  loudest  thunder 
Accordin'  to  popilation. 

This  undeniably  conforms  to  the  condition  of  express 
ing  with  directness  and  strength  the  convictions  and 
predominating  sentiment  of  at  least  a  certain  part  of 
our  people,  besides  stating,  in  addition,  a  noticeable 
fact  in  our  country's  physics.  It  is  also  manifestly 
emulous  of  this  stanza  of  "Eule  Britannia." 

"  The  nations  not  so  blest  as  thee 

Must  in  their  turns  to  tyrants  fall ; 
While  thou  shalt  flourish  great  and  free, 
The  dread  and  envy  of  them  all." 

But  the  complacency  of  the  unlettered  Yankee  has 
failed  to  equal  the  arrogance  of  the  eminent  British 
poet ;  and  as  we  can  admit  no  inferior  merit,  a  hymn 
of  which  this  is  a  specimen,  should  for  that  reason 
alone  be  rejected.  It  should  be  remarked  here, 
that  the  outcry  in  England  against  the  closing  sen 
tence  of  Mr.  Seward's  dispatch  of  May  4th  to  Mr. 
Dayton,  in  which  he  said  that  our  nation  and  govern 
ment  would  "  stand  hereafter  as  they  are  now,  objects 
of  human  wonder  and  human  affection,"  is  manifestly 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  77 

owing  to  the  fact  that  tie  stole  Thomson's  thunder. 
But  he  greatly  moderated  its  bellowings.  Even  in 
the  excitement  of  the  time  in  which  he  wrote,  and 
under  the  provocation  which  had  been  received  from 
Europe,  he  only  ventured  the  not  absolutely  unsafe 
prediction,  that  this  Kepublic  would  remain  an  object 
of  wonder  and  affection,  as  it  had  remained  through 
the  changes  which,  during  its  brief  existence,  had 
passed  over  other  countries.  We  all  felt,  that  however 
true  this  might  be,  it  would  have  been  in  better  taste, 
it  would  have  shown  a  more  generous  and  high  toned 
consideration  of  the  feelings  of  other  nations,  to  omit 
it ;  but  the  circumstances  under  which  it  was  written, 
were  peculiar,  and  the  lapse  was  venial.  But  Mr. 
Seward  was  not  tempted  into  telling  Mr.  Dayton, 
in  Thomson's  style,  that  all  other  nations  would 
crouch  in  fear  of  us,  or  even  regard  their  own  posi 
tion  with  dissatisfation  on  comparing  it  with  ours. 
That  kind  of  insolent  bluster,  and  the  conduct  of 
which  it  is  the  exponent,  did  not  come  into  fashion 
among  folk  of  any  nurture  in  the  old  England,  until 
our  ancestors  had  left  it.  Nor  among  such  people  is 
it  tolerated  for  a  moment,  here.  But  "Rule  Britannia," 
is  a  song  written  by  one  of  the  most  eminent  and 
most  decorous  British  poets,  and  is  perhaps  higher  in 
favor  than  any  other  patriotic  British  lyric,  Campbell's 
not  excepted;  and  yet  I  am  able  to  say,  that  such  an 
arrogant  stanza  as  that  quoted  above  from  it,  would 
have  insured  the  instant  rejection  of  a  song  by  the 
New  York  National  Hymn  Committee ; — who,  by  the 
way,  were  a  fair  representation  of  the  general  intelli- 


78  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

gence  of  the  country,  only  four  of  the  twelve,  as  was 
very  proper,  being  taken  from  men  particularly  devo 
ted  to  literature.  Another  objection  would  surely  have 
been  made  to  a  stanza  written  in  the  British  poet's 
style.  High  literary  finish  would  very  properly  not 
have  been  insisted  on  ;  but  in  America,  even  a  rhyme 
to  "  free,"  for  which  much  will  be  passed  over,  is  not 
regarded  as  a  palliation  for  such  an  onslaught  on  the 
language,  as 

"  The  nations  not  so  blest  as  thee." 


3QQQQQQQQQQQQCrGQQ 

uannDnnnnnnapanoD 

OOOOODUOQDOOOO 


VI. 

But  to  turn  our  attention  to  the  songs  received  by 
the  Committee.  No  one  of  them  was  deemed  to 
satisfy  all  the  requirements  of  the  needed  hymn ;  and 
so  the  prize  was  not  awarded,*  The  decision  was, 

*  REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  UPON  A  NATIONAL  HYMN, 

The  undersigned,  having  been  requested  to  act  as  a  Committee  upon 
a  Prize  National  Hymn,  accepted  the  office  doubtfully,  and  with  some 
reluctance.  They  doubted  the  efficacy  of  the  means  proposed  to  the 
end  which  was  sought ;  they  were  reluctant  to  assume  the  function  of 
deciding  for  their  fellow-citizens  a  question  which  it  seemed  to  them 
could  really  be  settled  only  by  general  consent  and  the  lapse  of  time. 
And  deeply  as  the  events  of  the  present  momentous  period  of  our 
country's  history  stir  the  heart  of  every  true  American,  and  strong  as 
the  tendency  appeared  among  persons  in  all  parts  of  the  land,  and  of 
all  grades  of  culture,  to  give  a  lyric  expression  to  patriotic  feeling, 
they  still  felt  that  the  chances  were  very  slight  of  obtaining  at  the 
call  of  a  Committee  and  by  the  offer  of  a  prize,  a  National  Hymn 
which  would  live  in  the  hearts  and  upon  the  lips  of  the  American 
people.  Therefore,  although  they  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  decline  the 
service  asked  of  them,  they  expressly  reserved  to  themselves,  in  their 
published  conditions  of  competition,  "the  right  of  rejecting  all  con 
tributions,  whatever  their  merit,  should  none  of  them  be  deemed 
suitable." 

The  event  has  fully  justified  their  apprehensions.  They  received 
nearly  twelve  hundred  manuscripts  in  answer  to  their  call,  of  whidi 
about  one-third  furnished  new  music  as  well  as  words.  To  the  ex- 


80  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

however,  not  that  all  the  hymns  were  devoid  of  lyric 
merit.  Far  from  it  The  number  of  those  which 

animation  and  comparison  of  these,  the  Committee  addressed  them 
selves  at  the  earliest  moment,  and  gave  to  the  task  very  much  more 
time  than  they  supposed  that  they  would  be  called  upon  to  give. 
Every  manuscript  received  was  opened  in  Committee,  read,  and  duly 
considered.  Every  musical  composition  was  performed  once  ;  and 
those  found  sufficiently  meritorious  to  be  worthy  of  more  careful  ex 
amination  were  heard  in  solo  arid  chorus.  With  comparatively  few 
exceptions,  the  hymns  sent  in  proved  to  be  of  interest  only  to  their 
writers  as  rhymed  expressions  of  personal  feeling  or  fancy.  Of  these 
exceptions  many  were  excluded  from  special  consideration  as  being 
purely  devotional,  or  because  they  were  written  either  to  the  national 
airs  of  other  peoples,  or  to  those  in  certain  vogue  with  us,  the 
acknowledged  insufficiency  of  which  was  the  reason  for  the  appoint 
ment  of  this  Committee.  After  a  careful  and  repeated  consideration 
of  the  remainder,  the  Committee  are  unanimously  of  the  opinion  that, 
although  some  of  them  have  a  degree  of  poetic  excellence  which  will 
probably  place  them  high  in  public  favor  as  lyrical  compositions,  no 
one  of  them  is  well  suited  for  a  National  Hymn.  They,  therefore, 
make  no  award. 

Propositions  were  made  for  public  performances  of  those  hymns 
which  the  Committee  should  think  worthy  of  such  distinction ;  but, 
upon  due  consideration,  it  was  deemed  most  advisable  not  to  accept 
them.  In  accordance,  however,  with  one  of  the  conditions  of  com 
petition,  the  most  meritorious  and  noticeable  of  the  songs  received, 
have  been  placed  in  the  hands  of  publishers  (Messrs.  RUDD  &  CARLE- 
TON),  and  will  be  issued  in  a  volume  at  their  risk ;  the  publication,  if 
profitable,  inuring  to  the  benefit  of  a  patriotic  fund. 

The  remaining  manuscripts,  with  their  accompanying  envelopes 
(unopened)  containing  the  writers'  names,  have  been  destroyed.  The 
money  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Committee,  will  be  accounted  for 
by  their  Treasurer  to  the  gentlemen  who  subscribed  it. 

The  Committee  having  thus  absolved  itself  of  its  functions,  accord 
ing  to  its  published  conditions  of  competitionr  its  members  beg  to 
inform  the  various  competitors  that  it  no  longer  exists  as  a  body,  and 
that  they,  as  individuals,  have  no  further  power  or  responsibility  upon 
this  subject. 

GULIAN  C  VERPLANCK,  JOHN  A.  Dix, 

CHARLES  KING,  M.  H.  GRINNELL, 

HAMILTON  FISH,  LUTHER  BRADISH, 

GEORGE  WAI.  CURTIS,  RICHARD  GRANT  WHITE, 

J.  J.  Cisco,  JOHN  R.  BRODHEAD, 

GEORGE  T.  STRONG,  ARTHUR  LEARY, 

MAUNSELL  B.  FIELD. 
NEW  YORK,  August  9th,  1861. 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  81 

were  noticeable  for  poetic  excellence,  however  small 
in  proportion  to  the  multitude  that  were  sent  in,  was 
quite  as  great  as  could  reasonably  have  been  expected, 
especially  when  the  reluctance  of  poets  of  high  and 
long  established  reputation  to  enter  upon  such  a  com 
petition  is  considered.  Of  the  winno wings  from  the 
immense  heaps  threshed  out  of  twelve  hundred  brains, 
various  causes,  some  of  which  have  been  mentioned 
elsewhere,  have  left  but  a  few  for  our  examination. 
But  the  style  and  the  merits  of  these  are  so  charac 
teristic,  that  they  offer  us,  not  only  their  intrinsic 
beauties,  but  fine  examples  in  illustration  of  our 
theme. 

NATIONAL   HYMN. 

"Words  and  Music  by  RICHARD  STORES  WILLIS. 

I. 
Anthem  of  liberty, 

Solemn  and  grand, 
Wake  in  thy  loftiness, 

Sweep  through  the  land  I 
Light  in  each  breast  anew 

Patriot  fires, 
Pledge  the  old  flag  again — 

Flag  of  our  sires  ! 
Fling  all  thy  folds  abroad, 
Banner  of  light ! 

Wave,  wave  forever, 
Flag  of  our  might ! 
God  for  our  banner, 
Freedom  and  Right ! 

Amen !  Amen  I 


82 


NATIONAL  HYMNS. 


ii. 
Spirit  of  Unity, 

Potent,  divine, 
Come  in  thy  kindliness, 

All  hearts  intwine ! 
Prove  to  our  enemies 

Ever  a  rock, 


Ben  Marcato. 


Anthem  of  Lib  -  er  -  ty,     Sol-ernn  and  grand, 

±£: 


&-* 


m 


•^s^ 


im^^ 

\  ^^L-.-^—^ — =±-=\ -i=Eg: 


•c*-         -*- 


Wake    in  thy  lof-ti-ness,  Sweep  thro' the  land! 


P 1— c— 1 1 1 — \—4 

^^-  -2    *    -i-   5  * 


&EE* 


I          I       >       >     5-     i      j^     \ 


Liglit  in  each  breast    a -new      Pat  -  ri  -  ot  fires! 


NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

And  to  each  traitor-scheme 

Ruinous  shock ! 
Wake  the  old  banner  word ! 
Shout  it  amain. 

Union  forever ! 
Once  and  again  ! — 
Union  forever ! 
God  it  maintain  ! 

Amen !  Amen ! 
in. 

Shades  of  our  forefathers, 
Pass  through  the  land, 
Clothed  in  full  majesty, 
Terrible,  grand ! 


Pledge  the  old  flag     a  -  gain — Flag  of  our  sires ! 


^H 


Fling  all  thy  folds  a-broad,  Ban-ner   of  light! 


Segue  Coro. 


NATIONAL  HYMNS. 


Fright  from  their  lurking-place, 

Treason  and  wrong, 
Wake  the  old  loyalty, 
Earnest  and  strong ! 
This  for  our  panoply, 
What  can  befal  ? 

Steadfast  and  loyal, 
Naught  can  appal ! 
Thus  to  be  loyal 
God  help  us  all ! 

Amen-!  Amen! 

IV, 

Come,  kindly  trinity, 
Noblest  and  best, 


SOPRANO,  ff 


1 


Wave,  wave  for  -  ev  -  er,  Flag  of  our  might ! 

,  ALTO. 


Wave,  wave  for  -  ev  -  er,  Flag  of   our  might ! 


5 


Wave,  wave  for  -  ev  -  er,  Flag  of   our  might 

JJASS. 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  85 

"  Faith,  Hope,  and  Charity," 

Rule  in  each  breast ! 
Faith,  in  our  Fatherland, 

Hope,  in  our  Lord, 
Charity,  still  to  all 

Blindly  who've  err'd ! 
God  save  the  Government ! 
Long  it  defend ! 

Thine  is  the  Kingdom, 
Father  and  Friend ! 
Thine  be  the  glory, 
World  without  end ! 

Amen  !  Amen ! 

A  grand,  a  truly  noble  lyric,  this.     Manly,  and 


God  for  our  banner,      Freedom  and  Right!  Amen!  A   -  men  ! 


sat 


God  for  our  banner,      Freedom  and  Right!  Amen!  A  -  men! 


God  for  our  banner,      Freedom  and  Right!  Amen!  A  -  men  ! 


*—„   » 


-*     I  -2=*- 


86  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

simple,  and  strong ;  full  of  the  patriot  fire  which  it 
seeks  to  light;  bold  and  spirited,  and  yet  tender, 
brotherly,  and  imbued  with  the  very  soul  of  Chris 
tianity.  A  song,  truly  beyond  all  praise  for  its  motive 
and  its  completeness.  Having  a  fine  lyric  move 
ment,  too,  and  preserving  well  that  medium  between 
simple  and  figurative  utterance  of  feeling,  which 
allows  ornament  to  lyric  poetry  without  loss  of  the 
essential  simplicity  and  directness.  The  second  stanza 
— so  well  introduced  by  the  first — sets  forth  in  its 
invocation  the  beauty  and  worth  of  the  Union,  with 
a  completeness  and  convincing  force  which  is  the 
concentration  of  logic ;  yet  the  lyric  spirit  is  never 
for  a  moment  lost,  and  it  passes,  by  a  transition  so 
natural  that  it  is  not  noticed,  into  an  outburst  of  en 
thusiasm.  The  third,  which  summons  up  the  shades 
of  the  fathers  of  the  republic,  is  strongly  impressive ; 
the  imagination  is  vivid,  the  image  one  of  awful 
dignity  and  admirable  keeping;  and  the  fourth 
stanza — in  which  patriotism  and  Christianity  are  so 
inter-penetrated  with  each  other's  spirit  as  to  be  undis- 
tinguishable,  and  which  closes  with  such  a  felicitous 
adaptation  of  that  ascription  of  praise  which,  heard 
at  first  upon  the  hilly  shores  of  Galilee,  from  that 
time  has  never  ceased  to  echo  through  the  world — 
fitly  closes  this  song.* 

*  I  have  given  this  song  in  short  lines  according  to  the  author's 
manuscript.  But  in  fact  it  is  written  in  verses  of  four  accents,  each  of 
which  he  has  broken  into  two  lines. 

Anthem  of  liberty,  solemn  and  grand, 

Wake  in  thy  loftiness,  sweep  through  the  land  I 


NA  TIONAL^  HYMNS.  87 

The  music,  from  the  same  hand,  seems  to  be  born 
of  the  words,  if  indeed  it  was  not  twin-born  with 
them.  Though  its  melody  is  not  marked  enough  to 
be  popular,  it  has  the  same  character  of  simplicity, 
fervor,  nobility,  and  graceful  strength  by  which  they 
are  distinguished. 

Why,  then,  is  not  this  song  well  suited  to  be  our 
national  hymn?  Simply  because  it  is  not  adapted  to 
popular  use.  Its  spirit,  except  in  the  first  stanza,  seems 
almost  too  subtle  to  suit  the  emotions  of  large  masses 
of  men,  who  always  feel  in,  so  to  speak,  the  most  ele 
mental  manner;  so  that  words  which  are  written  for 
them  or  spoken  to  them  should  touch  strongly  and 
unequivocally  those  passions  which  are  common  to 
all  human  creatures.  The  very  imagination,  vivid 
and  picturesque,  which  makes  the  third  stanza  of  this 
song  so  impressive,  renders  it  by  so  much  the  less 
suitable  for  a  national  hymn.  And  another  beauty 
of  construction  has  a  like  paradoxical  effect.  It  will 
be  seen,  on  examination  of  the  music,  that  the  last  four 
lines  of  each  stanza,  which  develope  a  motive  that 
springs  up  in  the  two  which  precede  them,  are  skil 
fully  made  the  chorus,  and  that  this  chorus  is,  as  it 
were,  an  outburst  of  feeling  excited  by  what  has  gone 
before.  This  is  the  ideal  of  chorus  singing.  The  effect 
is  dramatic.  We  may  have  our  imaginary  choruses  thus 
sung,  either  in  our  reveries  or  on  the  stage;  but  in  prac 
tice  it  will  not  do.  The  chorus  of  a  hymn  to  be  sung 
by  a  multitude  should  be  the  same  for  every  stanza  of 
the  song,  and  should  repeat  the  cardinal  lyric  motive 
of  the  song  to  the  principal  musical  theme ;  and  in  fact 


88  NATIONAL  HYMNS, 

be  the  words  and  the  tune  by  which  the  song  is  recog- 
nised  and  spoken  of.  The  announcement  here  of  these 
critical  axioms  will  enable  us  to  pass  over  the  follow 
ing  songs  with  brief  remark. 

The  next  song  has  for  its  central  thought  the  love 
of  liberty — that  liberty  which  is  in  accordance  with 
truth  and  right;  which  love  is  the  strong  bond  of 
union  between  American  citizens ;  and  which — never 
felt,  as,  indeed,  it  was  never  understood,  until  after  the 
Revolution  by  which  we  won  our  independent 
national  existence — is  now  the  great  motive  power  of 
the  civilized  world.  The  strength  of  this  sentiment 
is  brought  out  in  high  relief  by  contrasting  it  with 
the  material  advantages  which  coexist  with  liberty 
in  this  country, — a  rhetorical  device  which  is  not 
new,  but  one  the  force  of  which  long  use  can  never 
enfeeble.  The  song,  if  set  to  a  vigorous,  well-marked, 
pleasing  air,  could  not  but  become  a  popular  favorite. 

OUR  NATIVE  LAND. 

BY  JAMES   WILLARD  MORRIS. 
I. 

Our  Native  Land — our  Native  Land — 

Land  dear  to  every  heart ! 
They  breathe  free  air,  they  proudly  stand, 

Who  but  of  thee  have  part ! 
'Tis  not  broad  plains,  or  skies  so  clear, 

Or  mountains  high  and  grand  : 
'Tis  liberty  that  makes  so  dear, 

Our  own  blest  Native  Land ! 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  89 

n. 
O  land  beloved — whose  Washington 

Toiled  nobly  for  its  peace, 
Whose  patriots  bled  till  life  was  done, 

That  tyranny  might  cease  ! 
'Twas  Freedom's  shrine  they  sought  to  rear ; 

By  that  we  ever  stand  : 
'Tis  Liberty  that  makes  so  dear 

Our  own  blest  Native  Land ! 

in. 
Dear  Native  Land  ! — the  world's  oppressed 

Turn  longingly  to  thee : 
Not  for  thy  wealth,  thy  might  confessed, 

Thy  noble  Unity. 
Not  for  thy  wide,  embracing  sphere, 

Thy  sons  that  waiting  stand  : 
'Tis  Liberty  that  makes  so  dear, 

Our  own  blest  Native  Land ! 

IV. 

Dear  Native  Land — dear  Father  Land  ! 

May  peace  within  thee  dwell ! 
May  bounteous  life,  from  God's  good  hand, 

O'er  all  thy  valleys  swell ! 
•    May  Right  and  Truth  have  naught  to  fear 

While  heaven  and  earth  shall  stand  ! 
>Tis  Liberty  that  makes  so  dear 

Our  own  blest  Native  Land ! 

I  fancy  that  I  see  the  captious  flout  and  the  igno 
rant  sneer  at  the  assertion  made  in  the  remarks  pre 
cedent  to  the  last  song,  that  the  love  of  a  liberty  con- 


90  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

sistent  with  truth  and  right  was  never  known  until 
after  that  liberty  was  successfully  established  by  the 
fathers  of  our  Eepublic.  And  in  fact  I  have  seen 
Americans  talked  down  to  (by  British  writers,  it  is 
almost  needless  to  say,  and  I  am  sorry  in  very  deed 
that  it  is  so),  on  account  of  the  importance  which  they 
regarded  the  present  crisis  of  their  government  as 
possessing  to  the  whole  world  for  all  time.  These 
folk  I  shall  send  for  their  answer  to  Lord  Brougham, 
who,  remarking  in  his  "Political  Philosophy"  (Yol. 
iii.  p.  329)  upon  the  establishment  of  our  national 
independence,  and  particularly  our  adoption  of  the 
republican  form  of  government,  and  the  federal  plan 
of  constitution,  uses  the  following  sufficiently  com 
prehensive  language:  "This  is,  perhaps,  the  most 
important  event  in  the  history  of  our  species."  The 
question  whether  that  government  and  that  constitu 
tion  shall  be  perpetuated  or  destroyed  cannot  be  of 
much  less  significance  than  their  original  formation : — 
a  fact  in  which  there  is  no  just  cause  for  self-compla 
cency,  much  less  for  the  assumption  of  an  inflated  air 
of  consequence ;  but  which  should  increase  our  sense 
of  responsibility,  and  fix  us  more  firmly  in  our  deter 
mination  to  absolve  ourselves  with  honor  of  the 
momentous  duties  to  mankind  which  the  development 
of  our  race  has  laid  upon  us.  The  sentiment  excited 
by  this  look  along  the  path  that  we  have  trodden, 
and  that  which  lies  before  us,  finds  a  stirring  expres 
sion  in  the  following  noble  lyric.* 

*  I  regret  to  say  that  the  envelope  containing  the  name  of  the 
author  of  this  song  has  been  lost. 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  91 


THE  NATION'S  HYMN. 

Our  past  is  bright  and  grand 

In  the  purple  tints  of  time ; 

And  the  present  of  our  land, 

Points  to  glories  more  sublime. 
For  our  destiny  is  won ; 

And  'tis  ours  to  lead  the  van, 
Of  the  nations  marching  on, 
Of  the  moving  hosts  of  man ! 
Yes,  the  Starry  Flag  alone, 
Shall  wave  above  the  van, 
Of  the  nations  sweeping  on, 
Of  the  moving  hosts  of  man ! 

We  are  sprung  from  noble  sires, 

As  were  ever  sung  in  song  ; 
We  are  bold  with  Freedom's  fires, 

We  are  rich,  and  wise,  and  strong. 
On  us  are  freely  showered 
The  gifts  of  every  clime, 
And  we're  the  richest  dowered 
Of  all  the  heirs  of  Time ! 

Brothers  then,  in  Union,  strong, 

We  shall  ever  lead  the  van, 
As  the  nations  sweep  along, 
To  fulfil  the  hopes  of  man ! 

We  are  brothers ;  and  we  know 

That  our  Union  is  a  tower, 
When  the  fiercest  whirlwinds  blow, 

And  the  darkest  tempests  lower  I 


92  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

We  shall  sweep  the  land  and  sea, 

"While  we  march,  in  Union,  great, 
Thirty  millions  of  the  free 
With  the  steady  step  of  fate ! 

Brothers  then,  in  Union,  strong, 

Let  us  ever  lead  the  van, 
As  the  nations  sweep  along, 
To  fulfil  the  hopes  of  man ! 

See  our  prairies,  sky-surrounded  ! 
See  our  sunlit  mountain  chains ! 
See  our  waving  woods,  unbounded, 

And  our  cities  on  the  plains ! 
See  the  oceans  kiss  our  strand, 

Oceans  stretched  from  pole  to  pole ! 
See  our  mighty  lakes  expand, 
And  our  giant  rivers  roll ! 

Such  a  land,  and  such  alone, 

Should  be  leader  of  the  van, 
As  the  nations  sweep  along 
To  fulfil  the  hopes  of  man  ! 

Yes,  the  spirit  of  our  land, 

The  young  giant  of  the  West, 
With  the  waters  in  his  hand, 

With  the  forests  for  his  crest, — 
To  our  hearts'  quick,  proud  pulsations, 

To  our  shouts  that  still  increase, 
Shall  yet  lead  on  the  nations, 
To  their  brotherhood  of  peace  ! . 

Yes,  Columbia,  great  and  strong, 

Shall  forever  lead  the  van, 
As  the  nations  sweep  along, 
To  fulfil  the  hopes  of  man ! 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  93 

Too  picturesque  and  fanciful,  with  all  its  strength 
and  spirit,  for  a  national  hymn,  this  song  has 
also  a  serious  blemish  of  excess,  if  not  of  assumption, 
in  the  second  line  of  the  second  stanza.  A  blemish 
which  has  its  opposite  in  the  following  pretty,  plain 
tive,  and  highly  wrought  supplication ;  which  seems  to 
have  been  written  not  only  from  the  depths  of  a  lux 
urious  humiliation,  but  wit"h  the  mistaken  notion  that 
a  national  hymn  must  necessarily  be  religious  in  its 
character. 

A  NATIONAL  HYMN. 

BY  J S.  H . 

O  strongest  of  Helpers  !  we  bring  Thee  our  weakness ! 

Oh,  tenderest  Father !  we  bring  .Thee  our  pain  ; 
Let  us  cling  to  Thy  feet,  till  contrition  and  meekness 

Have  won  Thee  to  smile  on  our  country  again. 

The  fairest  of  lambs  in  Thy  flock  of  the  Nations, 
Has  broke  the  gold  tether  that  bound  it  to  peace ; 

And  only  Thy  love — not  our  .vain  lamentations — 
Can  wash  off  the  blood  from  the  snow  of  its  fleece. 

Our  Eagle,  slow-waking  from  indolent  languor, 

Feels  a  weight  on  his  wings — droops  his  eye  from  the 
sun ; 

And  the  wail  of  his  shame,  and  the  scream  of  his  anger, 
Have  startled  a  million  brave  hearts  into  one. 

To  the  arms  of  Thine  infinite  tenderness  take  us; 

On  Thy  neck,  lo  !  the  prodigal  melts  at  a  touch ! 
For  the  sake  of  our  fathers — oh  !  do  not  forsake  us — 

The  children  of  those  whom  thou  lovedst  so  much. 


94  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

Turn   not    from    our    pleading,   lest   blood   flow   like 

water ! 

With  the  rain  of  Thy  love  quench  these  perilous  fires ; 
That  the  sweet  air,  made,  clean  from  the  scent  of  the 

slaughter, 

May  blush,  North  and  South,  with  the  flag  of  our 
sires : — 

Like  a  garden  of  roses  and  lilies,  fresh-blowing, 

Till  the  dead  June  seems  thus  to  have  blossomed  anew; 

And  Heaven,  half  in  love  with  the  counterfeit  growing, 
To  have  spilled  its  white  stars  down  in  clusters  for  dew  1 

Oh,  hear  us,  our  God  !     That  the  crystal  foundations 
Of  Liberty's  home  may  be  built  on  a  rock  ; 

And   Columbia,    redeemed — the   white    lamb    of  the 

nation, 
Once  more  may  stand  fairest  and  first  of  the  flock. 

I  return  to  a  suggestion  dropped  on  introducing 
this  song.  Hymns  were  originally  sung  in  honor 
of  some  personified  quality  or  idea ;  and  the  name 
may  surely  be  applied  nt>w  with  propriety  to  a  song 
or  ode,  in  honor  of  a  country,  or  of  the  spirit  that 
vivifies  a  nation.  Therefore,  the  author  of  the  next 
song  might  well  have  given  it  the  name  which  it 
bears,  even  were  not  the  chorus  written  in  a  devo 
tional  strain.  The  word  'anthem,'  which  he  uses  with 
perfect  admissible  poetic  licence,  is  improperly  applied 
to  a  patriotic  national  song,  as,  for  instance,  in  the 
case  of  "  Grod  Save  the  King,"  which  is  often  styled 
the  British  National  Anthem.  But  an  anthem  is 
essentially  ecclesiastical  in  its  form  and  spirit. 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  95 

HYMN  OF  OUR  UNION. 

BY  A.  J.  H.  D. 

Oh,  the  Hymn  of  our  Union!  its  melody  flows 
Through  the  dreams  of  our  children  in  cradled  repose, 
When  their  mothers  are  singing,  our  forefathers'  songs, 
And  the  voice  of  their  sisters  the  chorus  prolongs  ; 
And  the  anthem  rolls  upward  in  harmonies  grand, 
To  the  throne  of  Jehovah,  the  strength  of  our  land  ; 

CHORUS : 

And  the  Hymn  of  our  Union  for  ever  shall  be, 
Jehovah  !  Jehovah  !  our  strength  is  in  Thee  ! 
Preserve  us,  preserve  us,  united  and  free  ; 
Jehovah  !  Jehovah  !  our  strength  is  in  Thee ! 

Oh,  the  Flag  of  our  Union  !  'twas  woven  with  light 
From  the  bars  of  the  rainbow,  the  stars  of  the  night ! 
In  the  vesture  of  Freedom  it  swept  from  on  high, 
And  its  hues  are  all  blended  with  beams  of  the  sky. 
'Twas  the  blood  of  our  martyrs  that  crimson'd  its  bars, 
And  the  souls  of  our  heroes  shine  out  from  its  stars  ! 

CHORUS : 
And  the  Hymn  of  our  Union  for  ever  shall  be,  &c. 

Oh,  the  Land  of  our  Union  !  it  sweetens  the  morn 
With  the  fragrance  of  orchards,  the  sunshine  of  corn : 
In  its  bountiful  bosom  the  fountains  are  sure, 
And  the  gold  of  its  furrows  is  wealth  for  the  poor : 
And  the  children  of  exile  as  kindred  may  toil 
In  the  vineyards  of  freedom,  with  sons  of  the  soil. 

CHORUS : 
And  the  Hymn  of  our  Union  for  ever  shall  be,  &c. 


96  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

Oh,  the  Soul  of  our  Union !  it  blossomed  of  old, 
"VYith  the  pray'rs  of  the  loyal,  the  faith  of  the  bold  ; 
And  the  fruits  of  its  harvest  we  garner  anew 
In  the  deeds  of  the  valiant,  the  lives  of  the  true : 
For  the  seeds  of  all  Freedom  in  union  are  sown, 
And  the  hopes  of  all  nations  are  twined  with  our  own. 

CHOKUS  : 
And  the  Hymn  of  our  Union  for  ever  shall  be,  &c. 

The  next  song,  although  not  at  all  suited  to  be  a 
national  hymn,  is  one  which  no  American  can  read 
without  a  glow  of  interest.  The  graves  of  our  dead 
heroes  and  statesmen  are  a  living  bond  between 
us  which  it  would  take  generations  of  alienated 
political  existence  to  break.  This  thought  is  skil 
fully  elaborated  by  the  author  of  the  following 
stanzas. 


OUR  FATHERS'  GRAVES. 

BY    CHARLES   FARNHAM. 


From  Oregon's  eternal  hills, 

From  California's  golden  shore, 
From  northern  plains,  whose  thousand  rills 

Unite  to  swell  the  cataract's  roar — 
March  on,  march  on  in  stern  array 

From  all  along  Atlantic's  waves  ! 
Shall  tyrant  despots  hold  their  sway 

Around  our  fathers'  sacred  graves  ? 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  97 


ii. 


Beneath  the  golden  eagle's  wings 

That  banner  proud  is  waving  on, 
Where  every  land  its  offering  flings 

Upon  the  grave  of  Jefferson  ; 
Where  Patrick  Henry's  soul  of  fire 

Still  burns  amid  disunion's  woes, 
And  Randolph's  voice  shall  not  expire 

Amid  Virginia's  sacred  groves. 


in. 


That  land  is  ours — that  beauteous  land 

Where  Marion  and  Sumpter  rest ; 
And  Jackson's  tomb — Oh,  let  it  stand 

To  guard  the  gateway  of  the  West ! 
Preserve  the  grave  of  Washington — 

His  land — his  name — his  home,  is  ours ! 
To  Vernon's  mount,  march  on,  march  on, 

And  strew  your  Father's  grave  with  flowers. 


IV. 


Let  Webster's  voice  each  bosom  warm, 

And  Clay  the  patriot's  soul  inspire, 
And  Benton's  spirit  guide  the  storm 

When  Freedom's  dauntless  sons  expire  I 
And  till  the  love  of  Truth  shall  fall, 

And  sink  amid  corruption's  waves, 
The  Stars  and  Stripes  shall  float  o'er  all, 

O'er  all  our  Fathers'  sacred  graves. 
5 


98  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

"E    PLURIBUS    UNUM" 

BY   THE   REV.   JOHN  PIERPONT. 

AJB— "  The  Star-Spangled  Boomer  " 

I. 

The  harp  of  the  minstrel  with  melody  rings, 

When  the  Muses  have  taught  him  to  touch  and  to 

tune  it ; 

And  although  it  may  have  a  full  octave  of  strings, 
To  both  maker  and  minstrel  the  harp  is  a  unit. 
So,  the  power  that  creates 
Our  Republic  of  States, 
To  harmony  tunes  them  at  different  dates  ; 
And,  many  or  few,  when  the  Union  is  done, 
Be  they  thirteen  or  thirty,  the  nation  is  one. 

ii. 

The  science  that  measures  and  numbers  the  spheres, 
And  has  done  so  since  first  the  Chaldean  began  it, 
Now  and  then,  as  she  counts  them,  and  measures  their 
.  'years, 

Brings  into  our  system  and  names  a  new  planet. 
Yet  the  old  and  new  stars, 
Venus,  Neptune,  and  Mars, 
As  they  drive  round  the  sun  their  invisible  cars, 
Whether  faster  or  slower  their  races  are  run, 
Are  "E  Pluribus  Unum" — of  many  made  one. 

m. 

Of  those  federate  spheres,  should  but  one  fly  the  track, 
Or  with  others  conspire  for  a  general  dispersion, 

By  the  great  central  orb  they  would  all  be  brought  back, 
And  held,  each  in  its  place,  by  a  wholesome  "  coercion." 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  99 

Were  one  daughter  of  light 

Indulged  in  her  flight, 

They  might  all  be  engulphed  by  old  Chaos  and  night ; 
So  must  none  of  our  sisters  be  suffered  to  run, 
For,  "E  Pluribus  Unum  "—We  all  go,  if  one. 


IV. 

Let  the  Demon  of  discord  our  melody  mar, 

Or  Treason's  red  hand  rend  our  system  asunder, 
Break  one  string  from  our  harp,  or  extinguish  one  star, 
The   whole   system's   ablaze  with   its  lightning  and 
thunder. 

Let  that  discord  be  hushed  ! 
Let  the  traitors  be  crushed, 
Though    "  Legion  "    their    name,   all  with  victory 

flushed ; 

For  aye  must  our  motto  stand,  fronting  the  sun, 
"  E  Pluribus  Unum  " — The  many  are  one. 

This  most  ingenious  and  fanciful  composition  is 
quite  perfect  in  its  kind,  and  will  add  a  bright  and 
ever  green  leaf  to  the  wreath  of  one  of  our  veteran 
and  most  highly  esteemed  poets.  Commencing  at  a 
point  remote  from  its  subject,  it  compels  the  very  laws 
of  harmony  and  gravitation  into  the  service  of  patriot 
ism.  The  ingenuity  with  which  this  is  done  makes  the 
reading  of  the  poem  a  succession  of  pleasing  surprises, 
each  surpassing  the  other,  till  they  culminate  in  the 
last  lines  of  the  last  stanza.  But  in  spite  of  this  artful 
contrivance,  nay,  by  very  reason  of  it,  the  brilliancy 
of  the  song,  like  the  blaze  of  a  beacon,  is  a  warning 


ioo  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

to  those  who  would  be  attracted  by  its  light.  For 
with  all  its  intrinsic  excellence,  it ,  is  ill  adapted  to 
music,  and  is  a  model  of  what  a  song  intended  for 
a  national  hymn  ought  not  to  be. 

At  the  request  of  a  lady  who  rescued  it  from  the 
buck-basket  hereinbefore  mentioned,  I  give  the  fol 
lowing  song, — placing  it  here  because  its  simplicity 
and  manifest  intentional  adaptation  to  mere  vocal 
purposes,  contrast  strongly  with  the  style  of  the  one 
last  given.  It  had  no  title ;  and  the  envelope  con 
taining  the  name  of  its  author  was  not  recovered. 


Flag  of  freemen  gone  before  us, 
While  thy  starry  folds  float  o'er  us, 
All  the  land,  from  sea  to  sea, 
Now  and  ever  shall  be  free. 
Mindful  of  our  fathers'  story, 
Mindful  of  our  country's  glory, 
Be  our  care  from  age  to  age, 
Well  to  keep  that  heritage. 

Chorus.  Flag  of  freemen  gone  before  us 

While  thy  starry  folds  float  o'er  us, 
All  the  land,  from  sea  to  sea, 
Now  and  ever  shall  be  free. 

n. 

Heroes  lived  and  died  to  gain  it. 

Living,  dying  we'll  maintain  it. 
For  this  land  from  sea  to  sea, 
Freemen's  arms  shall  e'er  keep  free. 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  101 

Freemen  born  of  every  nation, 

Freemen  born  in  every  station, 

Heart  and  hand  for  this  shall  plight, 
Gathering  here  in  freedom's  might. 

Chorus.  Flag  of  freemen,  &c. 

in. 

Bold  alone,  united  bolder, 
Millions  shoulder  stand  to  shoulder, 

Stretching  on  from  sea  to  sea 

In  the  Union  of  the  free. 
We  that  Union  swear  to  cherish, 
May  its  foes  forever  perish ! 

Let  it  glorious  and  strong, 

Shield  the  right  and  crush  the  wrong. 

Chorus.  Flag  of  freemen,  <fcc. 

IV. 

Truth  shall  govern,  honor  fire  us ; 

Loyal  liberty  inspire  us  ! 

Not  in  vain  the  world  shall  see 
God  has  made  this  people  free. 

May  he  guide,  and  may  he  guard  us; 

May  his  blessing  e'er  reward  us : 
So  shall  the  Republic  stand, 
Peace  and  plenty  crown  the  land. 

Chorus.  Flag  of  freemen  gone  before  us, 

While  thy  starry  folds  float  o'er  us, 
All  the  land,  from  sea  to  sea, 
Now  and  ever  shall  be  free. 


102 


NATIONAL  HYMNS. 


GOD   SAVE   OUR  FATHERLAND. 

BY  REV.  JOHN  H.  HOPKINS 
I. 

God  save  our  Fatherland,  from  shore  to  shore  ! 
God  save  our  Fatherland,  one  evermore  ! 
No  hand  shall  peril  it, 
No  strife  shall  sever  it, 
East,  West,  North,  and  South ; 
One  evermore ! 

Chorus.     God  save  our  Fatherland,  true  home  of 

freedom ! 

God  save  our  Fatherland,  One  evermore. 
One  in  her  hills  and  streams, 
One  in  her  glorious  dreams, 
One  in  love's  noblest  themes ! 
One  evermore  ! 


MUSIC  BY  C.  JEEOME  HOPKINS. 


mf  Solo. 


1  God  save  our     Fa  -  ther-land,  From  shore  to      shore, 
Maestoso. 


Ores. 


God  save     our     Fa  -  ther-land,  One    ev  -  er  -  more 

4 I UJ-.-J- 


NATIONAL  HYMNS. 


103 


H. 


Strong  in  the  hearts  of  men,  love  is  thy  throne  ! 
Union  and  Liberty  crown  thee  alone ! 

N  ations  have  sighed  for  thee  ! 

Our  sires  have  died  for  thee  I 
We  all  are  true  to  thee. 
All  are  thine  own  ! 

Chorus.     God  save  our  Fatherland,  blest  home  of 

Freedom ! 

God  save  our  Fatherland,  One  evermore. 
One  in  her  hills  and  streams, 
One  in  her  glorious  dreams, 
One  in  love's  noblest  themes  ! 
One  evermore ! 


No    hand  shall  per  -  il   it,    No  strife  shall  sev  -  er    it, 


Ores. 


East,  West,  and  North  and  South,  One  evermore. 


-2-  -±^L     £-** 


Segue  Coro. 


104 


NATIONAL  HYMNS. 


in. 

Ride  on,  proud  ship  of  state,  tho'  tempests  low'r, 
Ride  on  in  majjesty,  glorious  in  pow'r. 

Tho'  fierce  the  blast  may  be, 

No  blast  shall  shatter  thee  ; 

Storms  shall  but  bring  to  thee 
Sunshine  once  more. 

Chorus.     God  save  our  Fatherland,  blest  home  of 

Freedom ! 

God  save  our  Fatherland,  One  evermore. 
One  in  her  hills  and  streams, 
One  in  her  glorious  dreams, 
One  in  love's  noblest  themes ! 
One  evermore ! 


CHORUS. 

^SOPRANO,  mf 


God  save   our   Fa  -  ther-land,  True  home  of  Freedom ! 


God  save    our   Fa  -  ther-land,  True  home  of  Freedom ! 


God  save    our   Fa  -  ther-land,  True  home  of  Freedom  ! 


NATIONAL  HYMNS. 


105 


These  words  seem  to  have  been  written,  merely 
as  the  vehicle  of  the  music  which  accompanies  them. 
Yet  they  are  nervous,  spirited,  warm  with  the  fire  of 
patriotism,  and  have  a  fine,  manly  rhythm.  The 
music  stands  in  the  first  rank  of  its  class.  The  simpli 
city  of  its  motive,  and  the  strength  and  symmetry  of 
the  whole  composition  give  it  a  noble  beauty.  It  is  in 
the  highest  style  of  plain  choral  writing ;  and  the  feeling 
which  it  inspires,  no  less  than  the  purity  with  which 
it  is  written,  make  it  a  work  of  which  no  composer 
need  be  ashamed. 

Why  then  not  accept  it  as  a  national  hymn  ?  Be 
cause,  simple  as  it  is,  for  the  public  at  large  it  is 
absolutely  unsin gable.  People  generally  would  be 
puzzled  to  discover  its  melody,  much  more  to  retain 


God   save  our     Fa  -  ther-land.  One     ev  -  er  -  more  ; 


'God   save  our     Fa  -  ther-land,   One     ev  -  er  -  more  ; 


God   save  our     Fa  -  ther-land,  One     ev  -  er  -  more  ; 


io6 


NATIONAL  HYMNS. 


it.  They  would  say  that  it  had  no  tune.  These 
objections  apply,  too,  with  peculiar  force  to  the  choruSj 
that  part  of  a  national  hymn  which  should  be  least 
obnoxious  to  them.  The  melody  of  the  chorus  is  dif 
ferent  from  that  of  the  solo  part,  and  it  is  based  upon 
modulation ;  a  radical  objection  which,  of  course, 
applies  equally  to  the  harmonies.  In  the  chorus  of  a 
national  hymn,  the  harmony  should  be  confined  to 
the  three  primary  chords,  with,  perhaps,  the  rare  addi 
tion  of  the  seventh.  Upon  these  harmonies  can  be 
based  all  the  effects  desirable  for  such  a  song.  But 
there  is  yet  another,  and  a  more  essential  objection  to 
this  music  as  that  of  a  national  hymn,  an  objection 
which  does  not  in  the  least  touch  its  intrinsic  beauty^ 
which  has  to  do  with  the  kind,  not  the  degree,  of  its 


Ores.- 


One   in    her  hills  and  streams,  One  in   her  glorious  dreams, 


One   in    her  hills  and  streams,  One  in  her  glorious  dreams, 


m 


One   in    her  hills  and  streams,  One  in   her  glorious  dreams 


NATIONAL  HYMNS. 


107 


excellence.  With  all  its  strength  and  dignity,  it  is 
not  confident ;  and  a  national  hymn  should  be,  above 
all  things,  confident  in  tone,  though  not  aggressive. 
Its  office  is  to  cheer  and  to  inspire.  But  the  spirit  of 
this  melody  is  prayerful,  tearful.  True,  its  supplication 
is  majestic,  its  grief  is  noble.  So  might  Moses,  hope- 
bereft,  have  implored  upon  the  lonely  top  of  Pisgah :  so 
might  the  stricken  Peter  have  wept  in  the  outer  court 
of  Caiphas.  But  if  it  fitly  uttered  the  woes  of  the 
whole  hierarchy  of  prophets,  and  the  aspirations  of 
all  the  archangels,  it  would  be  none  the  less  unfitted 
for  the  use  of  a  nation  of  determined  men. 

The  next  song  is   merely  a   direct   and  fervent 
rhythmical  utterance  of  the  sentiments  and  aspirations 

/  ^        /  Molto  Ritard.~=; 


One     in  Love's  no-blest  themes,  One    ev   -  er  -  more. 


•4^j  Juj  rrt-^H 


^  __  > 

One     in  Love's  no-blest  themes,  One    ev   -  er  -  more. 


£ 


One     in  Love's  no-blest  themes,  One    ev    -  er  -  more. 


io8  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

which  fill  the  heart  of  every  patriot  when  he  turns 
his  thoughts  upon  his  country.  And  this  is  just  what 
a  national  hymn  for  our  people  should  be.  Nothing 
is  lacking  to  such  a  song  as  this  but  that  great  lack, 
the  music  that  will  give  it  voice  and  win  it  universal 
favor.* 


NATIONAL  HYMN. 


BY  J.  HILTON  JONES. 


Great  God,  all  just,  all  wise ! 
On  whom  our  trust  relies, 
To  Thee  our  nation  cries, 

God  save  the  land  ! 
Charge  it  with  patriot  fire, 
Guard  it  from  faction  dire, 
And  from  rebellion's  ire 

God  save  the  land ! 

Chorus.     Charge  it  with  patriot  fire,  &c. 


*  I  add  here  the  music  of  a  song  received  by  the  committee  the 
melody  of  which,  though  unsuited  to  a  national  hymn,  is  purely  vocal, 
of  an  elegant  symmetry  and  enchanting  sweetness.  Its  author  has 
evidently  been  an  admiring  student  of  Mozart ;  but  he  has  given  us 
no  imitation  of  him  except  a  reminiscence  of  "  Vedrai  carino"  in  the 
bass  of  the  first  strain.  There  is  a  striking  similarity,  extending  to 
the  harmony  and  movement  of  inner  parts,  between  the  third  strain 
of  this  composition  and  the  fifth  of  Mr.  Willis's.  Is  it  an  unconscious 
reminiscence  by  both  composers  which  their  critic  is  unable  to  trace. 


NATIONAL  HYMNS. 


109 


n. 

Bless  it  with  plenty's  smile  ! 
Cheer  it  with  honest  toil ! 
Make  all  its  foes  recoil ! 

God  save  the  land ! 
Crown  it  with  Truth  and  Right ! 
O'er  it  shed  Virtue's  light, 
Honor  and  Glory  bright ! 

God  save  the  land ! 
Chorus.     Crown  it  with  Truth  and  Right,  <fcc. 

in. 

Garlands  of  Hope  entwine, 
With  Faith  and  Love  divine, 
O'er  blessed  Freedom's  shrine  ! 
God  save  the  land ! 


Symph. 


BY  J.  E.  THOMAS. 


Allegro  maestoso. 


Voce. 


-  1  —  -  -       _  -- 


m 


~T]~'i~~i*  \r^ 


i  io  NA  TIONAL  HYMNS. 

Great  God,  all  just,  all  wise, 
On  whom  our  strength  relies, 
To  Thee  our  nation  cries, 
God  save  the  land  ! 

Chorus.     Great  God,  all  just,  all  wise,  &c. 

Among  the  songs  received  were  some  which  con 
tained  a  single  stanza  or  two  of  remarkable  merit ; 
and  of  these,  one  in  the  form  of  an  apostrophe  to 
"  Our  National  Ensign"  ended  with  the  following 
noble  lines,  in  which  a  large  and  stirring  thought  is 
well  developed  and  sustained,  and  brought  to  a 
fine  climax,  with,  however,  a  slight  and  easily  reme 
died  defect  of  metaphor  in  the  fifth  line. 


2rz=ic 


NATIONAL  HYMNS. 


in 


"  Flag  of  two  ocean  shores  ! 

Whose  everlasting  thunder  roars 
From  deep  to  deep  in  storm  and  foam ! — 

Though  with  the  sun's  red  set 

Thou  sink'st  to  slumber,  yet 

With  him  in  glory  great 
Thou  risest,  and  shalt  share  his  tomb  ! 

Thou  banner  beautiful  and  grand, 

Float  thou  forever  o'er  our  land !" 

Another  called  "  A  Hymn  for  Freedom,"  opens 
with  the  following  spirited  stanza  : 

"  A  hymn  for  Freedom  !  let  it  ring 
As  far  as  earth  and  time  ; 


r\#  ft 


feflt 


___  m—ff=r        __  [.,__—  ^rrp 


Symph. 


112  NATIONAL  HWMNS. 

And  choral  as  the  grandest  lays 

That  made  the  stars  sublime. 
Raise  high  the  strain  from  land  to  land, 

Till  sea  shall  sound  to  sea ; 
And  all  Earth's  voices  shall  prolong 
•    The  anthem  of  the  free  !" 

This  promises  well ;  but  the  remainder  is  unequal  to 
it,  and  falls,  as  was  the  case  in  many  other  instances, 
into  the  making  of  protests  against  kings  and  lords, 
and  assurances  of  security  from  despots  and  tyrants! 
For  us  these  things  belong  to  a  past  world,  from  which 
we  are  cut  off  by  a  gulf  as  impassable  as  that  between 
Lazarus  and  Dives.  It  were  as  well  to  assure  us  that 
we  are  safe  from  giants  and  griffins. 

These  songs  are  few  in  number  to  bring  forward 
as  specimens  of  the  best  that  could  be  found  in  nearly 
twelve  hundred.  It  should,  however,  be  remembered 
that  they  are  only  about  half  of  those  that  were  laid 
aside  for  publication.  But  the  lyric  merit  of  several 
of  these  is  such  that  the  country  may  accept  them 
with  pleasure  as  patriotic  offerings.  The  tone  of  all 
of  them,  with  a  single  exception,  is  healthy  and 
manly  ;  and  indeed  it  is  remarkable,  and  an  indica 
tion  of  the  most  favorable  kind  as  to  our  national 
character,  that  among  this  great  mass  of  verse,  written 
in  the  always  somewhat  overweening  spirit  of 
patriotism,  and  a  great  part  of  which  was  produced  by 
some  of  the  most  unlettered,  uncultured  people  in  the 
country,  there  was  no  appreciable  exhibition  of  any 
other  than  a  spirit  of  magnanimity,  and  of  Christian 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  113 

charity.  The  sins  against  good  taste  in  a  literary 
point  of  view  were  numberless ;  many  of  the  songs 
being  in  this  respect  only  one  monstrous  crime  in  four 
acts,  being  four  stanzas.  But  of  offences  against  that 
higher  taste  which  dictates  a  scrupulous  respect  for 
the  personality,  and  a  consideration  for  the  feelings  of 
others,  whether  individuals  or  nations,  there  were,  to 
all  intents  and  purposes,  none  whatever.  Arrogant 
self-assertion  did  not  appear ;  though  firm  determina 
tion,  high  hope,  and  consciousness  of  grave  responsi 
bility  were  constantly  exhibited.  Aspirations  for  the 
success  of  Truth  and  Right  were  the  burden,  or  the 
climax,  of  a  very  large  majority  of  the  songs.  To 
have  been  the  means  of  eliciting  such  an  unconscious 
exhibition  of  national  high-mindedness  is  a  sufficient 
reward  to  the  committee,  although  their  efforts  were 
unsuccessful  upon  the  point  to  which  they  were 
directed.  In  truth,  this  manifestation  is  worth  in 
finitely  more  than  the  unwritten  ideal  national  hymn 
in  the  hope  of  eliciting  which  the  committee  was  ap 
pointed. 


$^^^ 


YII. 


It  has  been  already  said  that  the  large  majority  of 
the  songs  received  by  the  committee  were  the  merest 
common-place,  brief  effusions  of  decent  dulness,  or 
fantastic  folly.  But  it  would  have  been  strange 
indeed  if  among  the  contributions  of  such  a  great  num 
ber  of  competitors,  scattered  over  the  whole  country, 
there  were  not  some  traits  of  originality  possessing  a 
certain  interest,  though  it  were  not  exactly  of  that 
kind  that  properly  pertains  to  a  national  hymn.  Not 
a  few  of  the  manuscripts  tended  much  to  relieve  the 
tedium  of  the  readings  by  their  revelations  of  the 
very  peculiar  notions  entertained  by  their  writers  as 
to  the  kind  of  words  and  music  suited  to  a  national 
hymn,  and  some  of  them  by  the  complacent  requests 
which  accompanied  them.  The  following  composition 
was  one  of  the  earliest  opened. 

A  NATIONAL  HYMN. 

All  hail  our  country  great, 
May  she  never  falter ; 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  115 

But  every  darned  Secessionist 
Be  hung  up  by  a  halter ! 


35  3 

5         ~.         7  6 

All  hail,  our  coun-try  great,     May  she     nev  -  er     fal-ter; 


*J 


o 
But  -every  damn'dseees-sion-  ist   Be  hung  up  by   the  hal-ter. 

(Appended  by  the  author  of  the  verses.) 

It  is  supposed  the  committee  understand  fugue  and  figured  bass. 
The  money  may  be  sent  to  the  author  at  Albany. 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  doubted  whether  the  author  of 
the  above  was  quite  serious ;  but  of  the  sober  thrifti- 
ness  of  purpose  with  which  the  mass  of  the  com 
mittee's  correspondents  wrote,  there  can  be  no  ques 
tion  whatever.  One,  who  inhabits  New  England, 
sent  a  song  entitled  u  The  Nation's  Bride,"  which 
he  positively  refuses  to  give  to  the  public  for  less  than 
the  prize  offered — two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars ;  and 
of  which  therefore,  it  can  only  be  said  here,  that  after 
bringing  a  mysterious  person,  called  the  nation's 
bride,  upon  the  carpet  in  the  first  stanza,  he  says  in 
the  second: — 

And  lo  here  is  the  sidesaddle 
Which  the  bride  with  horse  and  bridle 
May  at  her  pleasure  take  a  ride 
In  the  buoyancy  of  her  pride. 

As  to  this  performance — the  song,  not  the  ride — 
the  author  makes  the  following  communication : — 


IT 6  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

The  foregoing  hymn  was  in  part  written  by  me  after  seeing  a 
lady  on  horsback  which  in  my  fancy  resembled  Washington  in 
feature  and  exspression  of  face,  which  hymn  since  seeing  the 
reward  offord  for  a  national  hymn  with  some  addition  and  allter- 
ation  to  suit  the  occasion  I  send  to  your  committee  for  considder- 
ation  for  the  foregoing  object  and  prize  the  only  inducement 
being  our  nations  glory  and  the  need  of  the  monney  offerd.  As 
I  am  no  musician  I  shell  not  attempt  to  compose  the  music. 

This  confession  of  mixed  motives,  though  it  may 
show  less  tact,  is  probably  the  fruit  of  more  candor 
than  appears  in  some  other  letters  written  by  com 
petitors  ;  and  the  writer's  refraining  from  the  compo 
sition  of  the  music,  simply  because  he  was  not  a 
musician,  shows  a  capacity  of  self-knowledge  which 
does  not  always  accompany  greater  advantages  and 
greater  pretensions  than  his.  He  certainly  was  not  of 
kin  to  the  Irishman  who  didn't  know  whether  he 
could  play  the  violin,  because  he  had  "  niver  thried." 
It  is  safe  to  say  that  if  all  the  people  who  were  no 
musicians  had  refrained  from  writing  music  for  a 
national  hymn,  the  committee's  labors  would  have 
been  considerably  shortened. 

It  might  have  been  well,  too,  if  a  distinct  and  uni 
form  notion  of  what  a  national  hymn  is  had  been 
impressed  upon  the  general  mind  of  the  nation  before 
twelve  hundred  individuals  of  it  attacked  thirteen 
hapless  committee-men  upon  that  subject,  pen  in 
hand.  For  instance,  one  competitor  sent  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  in  rhyme,  after  this 
fashion : — 

When  in  the  course  of  human  events,  a  people  needful  find 
They  must  dissolve  the  bonds  that  did  them  to  another  bind, 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  117 

And  to  assume,  'mongst  earthly  powers,  a  separate,  equal  station, 
To  which  by  law  they  entitled  are,  as  well  as  by  creation  ; 
In  such  events,  respect  demands  that  they  should  then  declare 
The  reasons  that  impell'd  the  change,  and  what  the  causes  are. 
We  (the  Americans)  hold  these,  as  truths  self-evident, 
That  men  created  equal  are,  when  on  this  earth  they're  sent, 
With  rights  inalienable  endow' d,  as  liberty  and  life  1 
Pursuit  of  happiness  as  well  (within  this  world  of  strife). 

And  so  on,  for  a  hundred  lines.  Another  sent  a  com 
position  of  fourteen  stanzas,  of  which  the  following 
are  specimens : — 

A  CONSTITUTION  HYMN. 

What  is  that  stings  the  Eare  ? — it  sounds  as  of  yore 
Is  the  Nation  a  Bleeding — by  the  Cannon  once  more 
Some  links  seeme  severd — From  the  Union's  Throng 
The  Banner  says  stay — To  the  Union  Belong 

Corus — Then  all  hail,  Constitution — Thy  Sperit  we'll  Keep 
For  thy  starspangled  banner — it  never  shall  sleep 

The  Old  Constitution — is  seald  to  each  Heart, 
So  firm  by  the  Fathers — no  Orater  can  start 
All  hale  to  Columbia — for  the  Trater  must  fall 
For  Linkon's  deep  measures — must  silence  them  all 

Corus— Then  all  Hale  Constitution — Thy  sperit  we'll  Keep 
For  thy  starspangled  Banner — it  never  will  sleep 

As  Chaneless  our  sperits — and  Fredom  as  Time 
And  the  starspangled  banner — ever  wave  in  the  line 
And  the  sperit  for  fredom — will  not  ceace  to  run 
For  he  that  wild  fredom  was  grate  Washington 

Corus — Then  all  hale  Constitution — thy  sperit  we'll  keep 
For  thy  starspangled  Banner — it  never  will  sleep 


1 1 8  NA  TIONAL  HYMNS. 

Heres  the  last  dying  words — From  a  Sogers  bold  Toung 
That  the  Stares  and  the  Stripes — in  Union  be  sung 
Equal  Rights  and  Fredom — is  the  old  mottoes  demand 
In  the  old  seventysix  spirit — our  nation  shall  Stand 

Corns — Then  all  hail  Constitution — thy  Sperit  we'll  keep 
For  thy  starspangled  banner — it  never  will  sleep 

Q-od's  willd  free  to  man — all  things  thatt  he  needes 
From  his  Birth  to  his  grave — while  onward  he  speedes 
Yet  peace  fredom  and  union— the  best  boon  to  life 
Except  what  god  made — when  he  made  man  a  wife 

Then  shout  for  such  union — the  best  boon  thats  given 
It  gladens  the  heart — and  wills  us  for  heaven 

From  another  came  a  sort  of  chronicle  dallad, 
longer  by  half  than  "  Chevy  Chace,"  which  opened 
thus : — 

FOR  THE  NATION  A  CHRONICLE. 

0  land  of  America  of  the  i  sing 

As  prophetic  visions  oer  the  Rise 
Thou  Boasted  land  without  a  king 

Thy  Glory  granted  from  the  skies 

From  popery s  plagues  thy  children  were 
Among  heathen  driven  to  find  a  home 

And  the  pilgrim  fathers  to  God  did  swear 
That  popery  among  them  should  not  come 

Skipping  over  thirty-four  stanzas,  we  read  the  fol 
lowing  record  of  the  state  of  affairs  at  the  time  of  the 
writing  of  the  chronicle.  The  South  is, — 


N4TIONAL  HYMNS.  119 

Proclaiming  war  against  the  north 
Because  they  Could  not  Rule  them  there 

Swearing  fire  and  Sword  they  will  Bring  forth 
And  lay  their  towns  and  cities  Bare 

These  States  Confederate  are  they  say 

With  a  Constitution  and  a  flag 
Davis  as  President  there  Bears  sway 

With  his  Beauregard  &  Col.  Brag 

Now  our  president  north  A.  Lincoln  is 

With  Scot  and  Seward  as  Counsellors 
.  Calls  all  honest  men  now  to  Be  his 

To  put  down  this  Band  of  conspirators 

The  word  goes  out  the  north  arise,  &c. 
Yet  another  sends — 


THE  HYMN  OF  OUR  COUNTRY. 

TUNE — Kate  Kearney.     CHORUS — A  Southerly  Wind. 

G-REAT  FOUNTAIN  or  LIGHT  !  GREAT  LIFE-GIVING  POWER  ! 

THINE  ALL-SEEING  EYE  is  a  CONSUMING  FIRE  ! 

That  moves  us  to  Live  !  that  moves  us  to  Die  ! 

That  raises  our  Spirits  to  Endless  Joy  ! 

Hail !  LIGHT  of  LIFE  !  Hail !  SPIRIT  of  FORGE  I 
That  LIGHT  which  at  first  created  all  things, 
That  LIGHT  in  man  is  the  IMAGE  of  SOURCE, 
That  LIGHT  of  dominion  o'er  Earth's  offsprings. 

That  LIGHT  which  led  the  Israelites, 

That  LIGHT  which  glowed  on  Sinai's  Mount, 

That  LIGHT  which  brought  Good  Tidings  Rites, 

That  LIGHT  with  the  Dove  at  Holy  Font. 


120  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

That  LIGHT  the  POWER  to  live  and  move, 
That  LIGHT  from  Heaven  that  blinded  Saul, 
That  LIGHT  which  leaves  its  earthy  shell, 
That  LIGHT  which  frees  th'  Immortal  SouL 
That  LIGHT  doth  invest  in  Eaiments  of  White, 
That  LIGHT  doth  illumine  the  Mansions  Above, 
That  LIGHT  of  the  Living  and  not  of  the  dead, 
Is  the  Light  of  all  Worlds  and  Souls  of  Love. 

CHORUS. — A  FATHERLY  VOICE,  and  a  GODLY  EYE, 
Are  the  LIFE  and  LIGHT  now  raising 
The  "  LAND  of  FLOWERS'*  to  greet  the  Sky, 
The  Freemen  and  Daughters  to  praising. 
Away  with  the  troubles  of  Earth  1 
Away  with  the  sins  of  the  Nation  I 
Huzza  !  for  America's  Chief  1 
The  Rulers  !  and  Laws  of  the  Union ! 
Hark  !  Hark  ! !  Forward  ! !  1 
Hozanna  1  Hozanna ! !  Hozanna  1 1 1 
Hark  !  Hark  !  I  Forward  !  1 1 
The  Star  Spangled  Banner  1 
Hark!  Hark!!  Forward!!! 
Hozanna  !  Hozanna ! !  Hozanna !  I ! 
Hark!  Hark!!  Forward!!! 
Grod  Save  the  Union  ! 

The  foregoing  lines  form  about  one-third  of  this 
national  hymn,  which,  by  the  way,  it  will  be  seen, 
is  directed  to  be  sung,  the  body  of  it  to  "  Kate 
Kearney,"  and  the  Chorus  to  "  A  Southerly  Wind 
and  a  Cloudy  Sky."  Will  any  gentleman  or  lady 
please  to  favor  the  company  in  which  he  or  she  reads 
these  pages,  with  the  first  four  lines  of  the  Song  and 
the  Chorus  respectively,  singing  them  to  those  airs. 
And  in  regard  to  the  airs,  and  consequently  the 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  121 

rhythm,  which  some  writers  thought  suitable,    the 
following  examples  are  interesting : — 

NATIONAL  HYMN. 
TUNE—"  Coming  through  the  Rye,"  or  any  S.  M. 

Of  Freedom's  flag  with  its  unfledgd  bird, 

That  broke  the  British  Spars, 
And  Lions  teeth,  the  world  has  heard, 

Though  it  had  but  thirteen  stars. 

Chorus — Lo  in  this  dark  mysterious  hour, 
The  flag  of  the  brave  and  free 
Brought  to  the  dust  by  brutal  power, 
Too  blind  the  right  to  see. 


The  Despots  Rejgn  is  short  indeed, 

O'er  mortals  on  the  Earth, 
When  Tyrants  swing  or  the  Eagles  sing 

Of  freedoms  second  birth. 

Chorus — A  second  birth  !  a  strange  idea, 

When  Demons  hold  the  Reins, 
And  mortals  live  in  slavish  fear 
On  gross  material  planes. 


UNION  FOREVER. 
Music — Come  haste  to  the  Wedding,  or  Rural  Felicity. 

Our  nation's  in  trouble,  and  what  is  the  reason 

That  this  fruitful  land  is  so  drench'd  with  our  gore  ? 

There's  fighting,  and  murder,  and  high-handed  treason, 
And  all  for  the  purpose  to  strengthen  slave  power. 
6 


122  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

The  Union  forever,  no  traitor  may  sever, 

Or  cause  our  brave  flag  to  be  laid  in  the  dust> 

Freedom,  our  natural  inheritance, 

Sanctioned  by  Heaven,  we  know  to  be  just. 

u. 

The  labourers,  the  noble,  that  furnish  our  living, 
And  all  other  comforts  this  earth  can  produce  j 

And  there  is  no  good  reason  for  our  believing 
That  one  man  was  made  for  another  man's  use. 

The  Union  forever,  no  traitor  may  sever, 

Or  cause  our  brave  flag  to  be  laid  in  the  dust> 

Freedom,  our  natural  inheritance, 

Sanctioned  by  Heaven,  we  know  to  be  just. 


NATIONAL  HYMN. 

TUNE — Lord  Lovel. 

Great  source  of  light,  Eternal  One,  the  Infinite,  the  real, 
Where  wisdom  reigns  thy  will  is  done,  all  else  is  but  ideal, 
Ideal,  all  else  is  but  ideal. 

While  we  in/mite  laws  survey,  all  finite  things  depart, 
But  where  mankind  on  mortals  prey,  there's  no  law  on  the 
heart, 

Heart,  heart,  there's  no  law  on  the  heart. 

In  seventy-six,  our  unfledged  bird  made  Briton's  symbol  groan 
Lo,  how  the  hearts  of  men  were  stirred  when  the  nestling  shook 
the  throne, 

Throne,  throne,  when  the  nestling  shook  the  throne. 

Behold  its  talons,  now  how  strong,  a  mighty  power  on  earth, 
Hark,  hear  its  thrilling  native  song,  of  freedom's  second  birth, 
Birth,  birth,  of  freedom's  second  birth. 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  123 

A  second  birth !  I  hold  on  dear  bird,  freedom  lives  forever, 
Allied  to  God,  the  living  Word,  it  was  a  mortal  never, 
Never,  it  was  a  mortal  never. 

Hence  to  the  individual  man,  and  to  his  G-od  we  look 
For  wisdom  now  to  lead  the  van,  till  despotism  is  shook, 
Shook,  shook,  till  despotism  is  shook. 

Lo,  while  there's  a  tempestuous  sea,  and  mind  and  matter 

fighting, 
We  fain  would  put  our  trust  in  Thee,  who  in  the  dust  was 

writing, 

Writing,  who  in  the  dust  was  writing. 


To  thy  Almighty  power  we  look,  to  save  this  youthful  nationt 
Inspire  us  from  thy  living  book,  that  has  no  final  station, 
Station,  that  has  no  final  station. 


Let  artificial  swords  and  spears  be  subject  to  the  pen, 
And  aU  be  subject  to  ideas,  till  seraphs  cry  amen, 
Amen,  till  seraphs  cry  amen. 

It  will  be  observed,  that  a  due  regard  for  the 
dimensions  to  which  this  volume  must  be  restricted, 
has  made  an  excision  of  some  of  the  stanzas  of  this 
hymn  necessary ;  for  it  more  than  rivalled  in  length 
the  dolorous  ballad  to  the  tune  of  which  it  was  writ 
ten.  Only  those  who  can  sing  the  hymn  to  the  tune 
of  "  Lord  Lovel,"  or  have  the  privilege  of  hear 
ing  it  sung,  can  realize  what  a  very  striking  effect  the 
author  has  attained  even  in  his  very  first  stanza. 

A  rhythmical  effect,  somewhat  similar  to  that 
of  the  foregoing  song,  has  been  attained  by  the 


i24  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

writer  of  that  from  which  the  following  stanzas  are 
quoted.  In  the  choice  of  his  subject  he  passes  by  the 
flag,  the  union,  and  even  liberty,  in  favor  of  that 
upon  which  he — very  justly — believes  that  the  safety 
of  all  of  them  depends. 

THE  BALLOT-BOX. 

Our  country,  our  country  I  the  Palm  and  the  Pine, 

Lake,  River,  and  Delta,  Rock,  Prairie,  and  Vine  I 

From  Ocean  to  ocean  thy  banner  doth  float ! 

How  broad  is  the  Realm  that  we  rule  by  the  vote  I 
By  a  vote,  vote,  omnipotent  vote  1 
What  destinies  hang  on  the  Freeman's  vote  I 

Our  bold  mountain  Eagle  flies  fearless  and  far, 

Bearing  home  on  his  pinions  new  Star  after  Star, 

Till  the  Old  Thirteen  have  become  thirty-four! 

And  our  "  STAR-SPANGLED  BANNER  "  hath  room  for  no  more  I 

By  a  vote,  vote,  omnipotent  vote ! 

What  destinies  hang  on  the  Freeman's  vote ! 

Though  we  join  hand  in  hand  with  the  G-enius  of  Toil, 
We  turn  from  the  health-giving,  wealth-giving  soil, 
From  carrying  our  fortunes  with  Energy's  Hand, 
To  the  holier  duty  of  ruling  the  land, 

By  a  vote,  vote,  omnipotent  vote ! 

What  destinies  hang  on  the  Freeman's  vote  1 


Then  ho  for  the  Ballot-Box !     Still  shall  it  be 
The  Bane  of  the  Tyrant,  the  Boon  of  the  Free ! 
And  the  old  Stars  and  Stripes  shall  evermore  float, 
O'er  the  Land  of  our  Love,  that  we  rule  by  a  VOTE  I 

By  a  vote,  vote,  omnipotent  vote ! 

What  destinies  hang  on  the  Freeman's  vote  1 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  125 

The  doubts  expressed  by  the  writer  of  the  follow 
ing  note  and  the  song  which  accompanied  it,  are. 
of  the  most  distracting  nature.  The  committee  had 
no  thought  that  they  were  about  to  place  any  one  in 
such  distressing  uncertainty. 

Gentlemen :  I  have  hesitated,  or  halted,  between  three  opinions, 
in  relation  to  the  National  Hymn,  whether  to  write  of  the  nation 
as  it  was,  or  as  it  is,  or  as  it  is  to  be.  If  you  think  the  follow 
ing  lines  worth  publishing,  please  do  so. 

While  men  their  brothers'  blood  are  spilling, 
The  muses  seem  to.  be  unwilling 
To  sing  a  strain  about  the  nation  complimentary  at  all, 
While  there  is  such  an  envious  feeling, 
Or  one  is  from  the  other  stealing. 

CHORUS. 

Or  while  the  Constitution's  reeling  as  Adam's  did  before  the  fall, 
Whose  pen  will  be  inspired  to  write  a  song  to  satisfy  the  call  ? 

The  first  line  of  this  chorus  presents  a  difficulty, 
and  one  which  touches  the  origin  and  the  antiquity 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  We  have 
heard  of  the  Spanish  hidalgo  whose  faith  in  the  anti 
quity  of  his  blood  was  such  that  he  had  a  picture 
painted  of  Noah  entering  the  ark  with  a  package 

under  his  arm,  labelled  "  Papers  relating  to  the 

family ;"  but  we  are  nevertheless  startled  to  learn  that 
the  principles  of  our  Constitution  are  so  antediluvian 
that  it  can  be  likened  to  Adam's.  The  difficulty  may, 
however,  be  partially  solved  by  Dr.  Brandreth's 
triumphant  answer  to  the  searching  question,  "  What 
is  the  constitution?"  i.  e.  "That  which  constitutes." 


126  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

Clearly,  therefore,  Adam's  constitution,  and  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States  are  similar,  and  in  one 
point  identical.  But  that  Adam's  constitution  was 
reeling  before  the  fall,  is  a  new  revelation.  We  all 
knew  that  he  ate  the  apple ;  but  noiie  of  us  had 
hitherto  suspected  that  the  consequence  was  a  case 
for  diet  and  medicine.  But  not  to  be  led  into  wild 
and  distracting  speculation,  leading  on  the  one  hand 
to  "fate,  free-will,  fore-knowledge  absolute,"  and  on 
the  other  to  pills  and  impaired  digestion,  we  must 
deny  ourselves  further  extracts  from  this  song ;  and 
turn  to  the  following  not  uninteresting  examples  of  a 
peculiar  style  of  national  hymn  writing. 

FREEDOM'S  JUBILEE. 

Come  nations,  kingdoms,  people,  climes, 
Inspire  the  muse,  indite  the  rhymes. 
Let  voice  and  sound  and  hearts  unfurl, 
And  roll  an  anthem  round  the  world. 
'Tis  Freedom's  Jubilee, — hurrah  1 

Come  babes  and  wise  and  ancients  grim, 
With  slaves  and  cripples  all  fall  in, 
Tune  up  your  pipes,  and  trim  your  lights, 
Swell,  swell  the  chorus,  vales  and  heights. 
'Tis  Freedom's  Jubilee, — hurrah  ! 

Come  kings  and  princes,  priest  and  sage ; — 
Reject  your  pomp — fear  not  to  engage. 
The  car  of  freedom  cannot  wait  ; 
So  get  aboard  and  leave  your  state. 

'Tis  Freedom's  Jubilee, — hurrah! 

****** 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  127 

Come  Lords  and  Ladies,  old  and  young,  » 

The  song  of  freedom  must  be  sung. 
Now  toe  the  mark — don't  make  wry  faces, 
Though  some  may  not  have  all  the  graces. 
'Tis^Freedom's  Jubilee, — hurrah  1 

Come  black  and  white,  and  red  and  yellow ; 
Now  sing  like  locusts  till  you're  hollow. 
Aristocrats  only  'xcused  from  singing, 
But  they  can  set  their  servants  grinning. 
'Tis  Freedom's  Jubilee, — hurrah ! 

The  orchestra  down,  from  Master  Jubal 
To  Doctor  Franklin's  penny  whistle  ; 
And  all  the  vocal  songs  of  nations 
Reverberate  around  Creation. 
'Tis  Freedom's  Jubilee, — hurrah ! 

THE  SNUG-  LITTLE  FARM  IN  THE  WEST. 

There's  a  snug  little  homestead  well  known  in  the  West, 

But  the  owner  has  pass'd  like  the  snow. 
JOHN  REDSKIN,  the  hunter,  and  all  have  confest 

It  was  time  he  had  gone  long  ago. 

Chorus. 
Its  name  'tis  in  vain  to  disguise, 

For  of  farms  'tis  the  pink  and  the  queen  ; 
And  I  see  from  the  smile  in  your  eyes 

That  you  guess  the  old  homestead  I  mean. 

DON  PEDRO  from  Madrid  came  posting  in  haste, 

And  the  gold  he  took  from  it  in  store, 
But  his  mining  was  rough,  so  he  drove  it  to  waste, 

And  the  rule  of  the  Don  is  no  more. 

Its  name  &c. 


128  •      NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

Jhen  WOUTER  VAN  TWILLER  came  waddling  around ; 

In  the  "  Swamp11  for  the  dollars  he  dips, 
But  back  he  has  gone  to  his  own  muddy  ground, 

And  his  Schiedam  in  Holland  he  sips. 

Its  name  &c.  *• 

Then  MONSIEUR  CRAPEAU  came  along  with  a  hop, 
And  he  show'd  us  some  feats  with  his  toes, 

But  the  frost  was  severe,  and  he  vowed  not  to  stop, 
He  had  such  a  regard  for  his  nose. 

Its  name  &c. 

JOHNNY  BULL  followed  next,  and  he  thought  it  would  suit, 

For  a  pretty  close  farmer  was  he, 
And  the  garden  might  still  have  been  bearing  him  fruit 

But  he  foolishly  sow'd  it  with — tea. 

Jts  name  &c. 

Now  the  homestead  is  clear'd  and  the  acres  are  ours; 

See  our  Sammy  the  rich  meadow  delves ; 
And  for  sake  of  the  blood  that  has  water'd  its  flowers 

We'll  keep  it,  I  think,  for  ourselves. 

Its  name  &c. 


The  following  compositions  failed  to  obtain  the 
prize,  it  will  be  seen,  because  of  their  violation  of  the 
condition  announced,  that  the  hymn  must  be  adapted 
to  the  whole  country,  and  not  be  appropriate  to  the 
present  moment,  only. 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  129 

NATIONAL  HYMN. 
TXTNE—  Tto  Old  Granet  State. 

What  has  caused  this  great  commotion 
Through  our  land  and  through  our  Ocean, 
Tis  Jeff.  Davis  and  his  boasting 
Band  of  secession  men ; 
We  would  like  to  give  him  powder, 
We  would  like  to  give  him  powder, 
We  would  like  to  give  him  powder 
And  blow  him  out  the  land. 


Come  all  blooming  blushing  maidens 
Make  our  hearts  to  swell  with  singing 
While  we  hear  your  voices  ringing 
On  our  march  to  southern  lands ; 
Yes  we  know  you'd  swell  the  chorus, 
Yes  we  know  you'd  swell  the  chorus, 
Yes  we  know  you'd  swell  the  chorus 
For  your  noble  country  men. 

1861. 

Ttnra— Old  Dan  Tucker. 
1. 

With  stars  and  stripes  and  martial  glee, 
We'll  send  Jeff.  Davis  up  a  tree; 
His  trait'rous  band  must  follow  suit 
Because  they  like  that  kind  of  fruit. 

Chorus.     Get  out  of  the  way  old  Jeff.  Davis, 
Out  the  way  old  Jeff.  Davis, 
Out  the  way  old  Jeff.  Davis, 
You're  to  late  to  come  to  enslave  us. 


130  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 


5. 

You've  got  John  Canvin  (or  Calvin)  on  your  side, 

To  show  that  God  is  satisfied, 

With  Slavery's  vile  adulterous  shame, 

And  in  your  prayers  invoke  his  name. 

Chorus.     Get  out  of  the  way  old  Jeff.  Davis, 

6. 

But  we  have  Jesus,  as  you  see, 
Who  says  the  captive  shall  be  free, 
We  know  his  counsels  must  prevail  ; 
Almighty  wisdom  cannot  fail. 

Chorus.     Get  out  of  the  way  old  Jeff.  Davis. 

5th  and  6th  verses  not  to  be  sung:  they  are  intended  only  for  the 
clergy. 


June  Ith.  M TOWN. 

Gentlemen,  this  is  My  Himn  for  Your  Advertisement  In  the 
Dollar  Paper  for  the  20th  of  June  it  might  answer  for  the  Yerry 
Himn  You  Want  if  this  should  Happen  to  do  the  Porpose  i  will 
then  do  some  more  for  you  and  if  this  will  answer  you  will  of 
course  do  according  to  Contract  and  if  it  should  be  to  Simple  it  is 
not  more  lost  then  Sets  I  will  now  State  the  Effects  of  the  himn. 
One  night  I  dreamed  that  I  did  See,  the  Southarns  ships  where 
On  the  Sea,  the  Union  men  where  not  affraid,  this  tune  the  band 
So  Sweetely  Played,  In  the  Morning  When  I  did  Wake,  to 
fight  for  the  Union  My  Heart  did  Ache,  My  Wife  so  Cried  and 
beged  all  day,  that  I  with  Her  at  Home  should  Stay,  I  then  did 
say  it  would  be  best,  if  I  would  Share  my  life  with  the  Rest,  I 
Have  a  brother  thats  dear  to  my  Heart,  he  is  now  in  war  we 
hat  to  Part,  President  Lincoln  He  doth  reign,  and  he  will  bring 
the  South  to  Shame,  Jeneral  Scott  is  wide  awake  Southarns  cant 
Him  Overtake,  Jeffarson  Davis  Should  be  Hung,  In  Spite  of  all 
that  He  Has  don,  Kind  Readers  when  you  Sing  this  Song,  I 
Hope  my  Brother  will  be  along,  this  is  all  I  do  Compose  i  1 
Bring  my  Poetry  to  a  close,  Address  thus 

Penna. 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  131 

A  PATRIOTIC  HYMN. 

8,  8,  6.      CHARING,  AITHLOME. 
I. 

Our  government  in  days  of  yore, 

Of  States  thirteen — now  thirty-four — 

In  union  firmly  stood ; 
And  shall  division  now  be  sought, 
Of  this  fair  land  so  dearly  bought, 
With  our  forefathers'  blood? 


ii. 

Forbid  it  Lord,— nay  rather  let, 
The  rebels  who  would  so  forget, 

Their  solemn  oaths  and  vows, 
Receive  the  punishment  condign, 
By  fetters,  halters,  grape  shot,  fine, 
Or  what  the  law  allows. 

in. 

0  treason,  treason,  treason,  0 1 
Most  awful  crime  on  earth  we  know, 

Our  country  to  betray  I 
Yet  if  the  rebels  will  repent 
And  pray  that  pardon  may  be  sent, 

To  sinners  great  as  they, — 
*  *  *  *  * 

v. 

Our  government  as  'twas  design'd — 
Republican,  of  fed'ral  kind — 

We  magnify  and  prize  ; 
Secession  (or  by  other  name 
Rebelion),  which  the  traitors  claim, 

We  will  not  recognise. 


132  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

The  last  song  exhibits  yet  another  imitation  of 
Thomson.  The  line,  "  0  treason,  treason,  treason, 
0!"  is  too  plainly  copied  from  that  in  Thomson's 
"  Sophonisba"  :— 

0 !  Sophonisba,  Sophonisba,  0  1 

which  some  literary  enemy,  or  friend,  of  the  author 
thus  profanely  travestied ; — 

"  0 1  Jemmy  Thomson,  Jemmy  Thomson,  0  !" 

But  if  imitation  must  be  stigmatized,  or  at  least 
pointed  out,  what  is  to  be  said  of  the  following  verses 
which  are  without  signature  or  date  ?  Did  the  writer 
intend  an  imposition,  or  was  the  author  of  Brahma 
really  an  unconfessed  competitor  for  the  prize  ? 


UNION, 
i. 

Individual  several,  indisintegrative  whole  ! 

Corporeal  nationality,  national  soul ! 

Matter  indistinguishable,  immaterial  seen ! 

End  of  all  means,  of  all  ends  mean  ! 

Chorus — Thus  with  eye  unfilmed  we  see 
All  the  charms  of  unity  ; 
Clearly  thus  have  comprehended, 
What  our  forefathers  intended. 

ii. 

Of  sempiternal  potency,  preexistent  power ! 
Sweet  of  our  bitter,  of  our  sweetness  sour ! 
Of  Buncombe  progenitor,  issue  of  old  Ops, 
Live  thou  upon  thy  Buncombe,  die  he  within  thy  chops ! 
Chorus — Thus  with  eye  unfilmed,  &c. 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  133 

in. 

Infissiparous  symbol  of  politic  etern, 

Securing  Uncle  Sam  what's  hisn  and  every  State  what's 

hern, 

Of  strength  redintegrative,  of  pulchritude  e'er  fresh, 
Secesh  were  not  without  thee,  and  with  thee  no  secesh ! 

Chorus — Thus  with  eye  unfilmed  we  see. 


•  rv. 

Thus,  end  of  thy  beginning,  beginning  of  thy  end, 
Ample  power  to  break  bestowing,  reserving  power  to 

mend, 
Self  destroyer,  self-producer,  thou  hast  pluck  and  strength 

enough 
To  cuff  well  all  thy  enemies,  were  thy  enemy  not  Cuff. 

Chorus — Thus  with  eye  unfilmed  we  see 
All  the  charms  of  unity ; 
Clearly  thus  have  comprehended, 
What  our  forefathers  intended. 


But  what  need  of  imitation  ?  Had  Anna  Matilda, 
or  Laura  Maria,  or  any  other  of  the  contributors  to 
"  The  World"  risen  from  their  graves,  nay  had  the 
Eosa  Matilda  of  the  Kejected  Addresses  and  Pope's 
Person  of  Quality  appeared  with  them,  could  they 
have  produced  anything  which  they  would  have 
owned  more  gladly  than  the  following  compositions.* 

*  The  late  "  World"  newspaper  of  New  York  is  of  course  not  referred 
to ;  but  its  namesake,  which  was  published  in  London  towards  the 
close  of  the  last  century,  and  in  which  the  Delia  Cruscan  poetry 
appeared. 


134  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 


AMERICA. 

America,  our  lovely  nation, 
Offspring  of  th'  eternal  day, 
Why  should  not  the  whole  creation 
Homage  to  thy  virtues  pay  ? 
Now  in  the  field  in  heat  of  battle, 
On  the  deep  where  cannons  roar, 
Firm  united  and  undaunted 
Banish  tyrants  from  your  shore  1 

Long  has  liberty  laid  sleeping, 
Wrapt  in  darkness,  bound  in  chains, 
The  nation  independence  seeking, 
Rouse  to  arms  your  rights  regain. 
High  exalted  rode  the  eagle, 
Glorious  as  the  morning  star. 
Nature  smiles  and  seems  delighted, 
Freedom's  voice  is  heard  afar. 

Liberty  thou  here  shalt  flourish 
On  the  soil  that  gave  thee  birth. 
All  your  sons  your  rights  shall  nourish, 
Blest  with  festive  joy  and  mirth. 
While  the  nations  of  the  world. 
Tot'ring,  shiv'ring  in  despair, 
Mourn  their  organizeing  victims, 
Cries  of  death  ascend  the  air 

Long  live  the  constitution  I 
Long  live  Republican ! 
Long  live  America ! 
It  was  by  you  it  first  began. 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  135 

LIBERTY'S  BEACON. 

What  towering  beacon  light  is  this 

That  points  an  Eagle  starry  sky  ? 
Tis  the  Flag,  the  Flag,  impress  a  kiss ! 

Long  may  it  wave  its  banners  high ! 

Liberty — gleaming  in  the  soul 

Will  rise  assert  its  mandate  power ; 

Its  triple  thunders  grasp  the  goal, 

Will  calm  each  threatening  lurid  hour. 

Ah !  brightest,  fondest,  noblest  page 

Whose  altars  lure  a  heavenly  sky, 
Our  gallant  sons  through  every  age 

Will  consecrate  its  temples  high. 

Tis  Freedom !     Stars  and  Stripes  unite, 

The  reflex  of  our  Country's  all ; 
And  ever  may  their  trident  light 

Unnerve  the  arms  who  seek  their  fall. 

It  might  reasonably  be  expected  that  in  so  large  a 
mass  of  manuscript,  sent  in  from  so  numerous  and 
such  widely  separated  places,  there  would  be  a  plen 
tiful  sprinkling  of  those  forms  of  bad  English  which 
have  been  christened  Americanisms,  in  the  spirit  of 
the  London  shopkeeper  who,  as  Boswell  tells  us, 
supposed  the  Earl  of  Marchmont,  a  highly  educated 
Scotch  nobleman,  to  be  an  American,  "  because,  sir," 
said  he,  "you  speak  neither  English  nor  Scotch,  but 
something  different  from  both,  which  I  conclude  is 
the  language  of  America."  But  I  have  been  able  to 
discover  only  the  following  instance  among  all  the 
manuscripts  which  have  come  into  my  hands. 


136  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

The  land  that  invites  all  the  oppressd.  of  the  earth 

To  its  bossom  so  open  and  free, 
My  country  ;  I  love  thee  ;  no  human  can  tell 

The  love  that  I  bear  unto  thee. 

But  the  following  stanza  from  another  hymn  is  of 
interest  as  containing  an  entirely  new  contribution  to 
the  "American"  language.  The  author  directs  no 
special  attention  to  it ;  but  uses  it  quite  in  a  matter 
of  course  way. 

Then  let  us  hand  in  hand, 

Join  in  this  Noble  Band, 
The  Whole  of  our  Nation  in  unionity  Join, 

to  stand  by  the  union, 

and  old  constitution  till 
The  last  of  the  treators  be  Glad  to  give  in. 

Of  quite  a  different  cast  from  the  songs  that  we 
have  just  been  considering  are  the  following  homely 
verses ;  which  might  be  called  rude,  were  it  not  that 
their  tenderness  of  sentiment  is  matched  with  a 
certain  simple  charm  of  language  and  sweetness  of 
rhythm.  The  author,  whom  I  conjecture  to  be  a 
private  soldier,  stationed  at  one  of  our  Western  forts, 
writes,  with  frankness  -and  modesty,  "  Please  correct 
this  if  you  think  it  is  worth  printing.  I  am  no  scho 
lar."  He  is  not  indeed :  he  does  not  even  know  how 
to  spell,  and  does  not  always  rhyme ;  but  I  venture 
to  say  that  he  adds  to  a  warm,  true  heart  a  genuine 
poetic  temperament.  His  request  I  have  complied 
with  gladly ;  but  only,  it  will  be  seen,  as  to  ortho 
graphy  ;  and  I  do  not  envy  any  man  who  can  read 
his  crude  and  artless  verses  without  emotion. 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  137 


THE  AMERICAN  FLAG-,  OR  BANNER. 

Unfurl  your  banners,  let  them  fly, 
And  wave  in  triumph  to  the  sky ! 
O'er  the  ocean,  o'er  the  sea, 
O'er  the  land  of  liberty  ; 
Chorus.     O'er  the  land  that  G-od  hath  made 
For  the  gentle  and  the  brave. 

O'er  a  land  oppressed  with  strife, 
And  o'er  a  nation  dear  as  life  : 
O'er  a  people  deep  in  love 
With  their  country  and  their  God. 

O'er  a  mother's  heart  that  mourns 
For  her  country  and  her  wrongs : 
O'er  a  father's  heart  so  brave, 
Gently  let  it  ever  wave. 

O'er  a  sister's  gentle  love, 
And  o'er  a  brother's,  true  and  brave : 
O'er  a  wife  so  kind  and  true, 
And  o'er  the  ocean,  deep  and  blue. 

O'er  the  home  that  God  hath  bless'd, 
And  o'er  the  land  of  heavenly  peace: 
O'er  our  children  let  it  wave 
When  we  are  slumbering  in  our  grave. 

Of  origin  and  appearance  quite  as  unpromising  as 
its  predecessor,  is  the  following  significant  composi 
tion  ;  to  be  deterred  from  reading  which  by  its  bald 
rusticity  will  be  to  neglect  a  most  characteristic 
national  production  ;  one  which  could  have  come  out 
of  no  other  country  than  our  own,  and  from  no  other 


138  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

than  a  man  of  English  race,  who  had  been  reared  in 
the  American  Kepublic. 

UNITED  STATES  NATIONAL  HYMN,  L.  M. 

TUNE —  Yarmouth. 

BY  JONATHAN  

I. 

God  bless  United  States ;  each  one 
Has  government,  the  people's  own, 
The  people  rule,  their  rulers  are 
Elected  servants,  to  take  care 
Of  what  is  for  the  public  good  ; 
And  the  best  men,  be  chosen  should ; 
And  often  changed,  that  surely  we 
May  prosper,  and  be  ever  free. 

IT. 

Foundation  of  our  Union,  find 

On  education,  talent,  mind  ; 

God's  Book,  religion's  only  guide ; 

The  supreme  law,  in  all,  reside ; 

Nor  can  majority  oppress 

Minority,  but  all  confess 

That  each  has  Rights,  which  all  must  see 

Respected  in  their  purity. 

in. 

The  Union,  and  the  Nation,  stand 
A  Government,  o'er  all  the  land ; 
Best,  freest,  strongest,  wisest  one, 
Was,  is,  will  be,  beneath  the  sun ; 
The  greatest  numbers'  greatest  good ; 
And  all  protected,  as  we  should ; 
Intelligence,  ability, 
For  rulers,  the  best  quality. 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  139 

IV. 

Jehovah,  is  our  Head,  and  we 

Acknowledge  His  supremacy ; 

He  blesses  us,  year  after  year, 

With  all  good  things  which  do  appear ; 

He  is  our  Sovereign,  only  one 

We'll  have  none  else,  till  Time  is  done ; 

Three  times  a  year  acknowledge  Him : 

Fast,  July  Fourth,  Thanksgiving  time. 

v. 

As  we  march  down  the  stream  of  Time, 
New  States,  extend  our  happy  clime ; 
G-o  on,  increasing,  good,  and  great  ; 
One  Union,  formed  of  many  States ; 
More  States,  the  stronger,  shall  we  be, 
In  union,  peace,  and  liberty  ; 
East,  West,  North,  South,  on  sea  and  land, 
Forever  one,  united  stand. 

VI. 

Be  every  part,  to  each,  most  dear ; 
And  law  and  order  rule  us  here ; 
Our  Constitutions,  good  and  great, 
Amended  for  the  good  of  State ; 
Our  statutes,  for  the  people's  good ; 
And  Science  guide  us,  as  it  should ; 
States  within  State  ;  blest  freedom's  land, 
United  States  forever  stand ! 

vn. 

Stand  in  thy  strong  integrity, 
The  North  and  South  united  be 
With  East  and  West,  join  heart  and  hand, 
By  our  good  Union  firm  to  stand. 


140  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

Our  President,  elected  be, 
By  people's  voice,  plurality ; 
And  the  Vice-President  the  same  j 
The  highest  offices  of  fame. 

Till. 

Free  governments  o'er  earth  will  go; 

The  Bible,  education  too  ; 

The  righteous  wise,  shine  as  the  sun  ; 

Knowledge  and  Arts,  o'er  earth  to  run  ; 

All  know  the  Lord,  His  service  be 

Extended  over  land  and  sea ; 

His  kingdom  come,  o'er  men  to  reign, 

And  earth  be  all  the  Lord's.     Amen. 

JONATHAN  

This  hymn  is  dated  from  one  of  the  remotest  and 
most  primitive  of  the  rural  districts  of  northern  New 
England  j  and  its  chirography  betrays  a  hand  used  to 
the  plough  and  the  hoe,  not  to  the  pen.  The  writer 
is  plainly  in  a  condition  in  life  which  in  any  other 
country  would  limit  his  knowledge  to  the  delving  of 
the  few  acres  on  which  he  lived.  But  rustic  and 
unlettered  as  he  is,  what  knowledge  and  intelligent 
comprehension  his  verses  exhibit  of  the  structure  and 
the  main  principles  of  our  government !  How  many 
statesmen  and  journalists  abroad,  undertaking  to 
enlighten  their  colleagues  or  their  readers  on  Ameri 
can  affairs,  do  not  speak  five  minutes,  or  write  five 
sentences,  without  committing  blunders  which  this 
unpretending  rustic  would  at  once  discover  and  cor 
rect.  N"or  is  his  "  hymn  "  or  himself  at  all  peculiar  in 
this.  Many  of  those  received  from  various  similar 
quarters  showed  a  like  knowledge  and  apprehension  ; 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  141 

each  one  of  these,  too,  being  the  production  of  a  man 
who  in  this  regard  was  but  one  of  hundreds  and  thou 
sands  of  his  neighbors.  For  we  must  remember  that 
thought  and  knowledge  are  not  to  be  measured  by  the 
power  to  put  them  into  rhyme.  True,  these  men  are 
better  farmers  and  blacksmiths  than  poets.  But 
there  is  need  that  they  should  be.  Said  Prince 
Napoleon,  when  he  was  told  that  a  Lieutenant-Colonel, 
whom  he  saw  at  one  of  our  volunteer  camps,  had 
been  an  epicier,  "  I  cannot  but  see  that  a  French 
Lieutenant-Colonel  would  be  a  better  officer;  but 
what  I  most  think  of  is,  how  different  a  man  in 
France  the  epicier  would  be." 

The  writer  of  this  "  Hymn,"  if  he  be  not  himself  a 
type  of  the  men  who  have  made  this  country  what  it 
is,  where  slavery  has  not  blighted  it,  has  embodied  in 
his  verses  the  spirit  and  the  principles  which  have  ani 
mated  those  men,  the  very  rudest  and  humblest  of 
them,  and  enabled  them  to  build  up  in  the  wilderness 
States,  independent,  self-sustaining,  with  as  intelligent 
a  purpose  as  that  which  they  brought  to  the  reclaim 
ing  of  their  fields  and  the  raising  of  their  log-houses. 
A  statesman  or  a  publicist  trained  in  the  schools  and 
practised  in  politics,  would  set  forth  his  theory  of  a 
state  in  which  the  best  ends  of  government  should 
be  attained  in  language  very  different  from  that  of 
this  rustic  hymn-writer.  But,  is  there  one,  even 
among  the  best  and  wisest,  who  would  not  be 
obliged  to  confess  that  he  could  neither  add  to  nor 
take  from  the  plan  in  any  important  point?  We  are 
so  familiar  with  this  knowledge  and  with  its  diffusion 


H2  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

that  we  take  its  presence  in  any  quarter  and  under 
all  circumstances  as  a  matter  of  course.  But  if  we 
will  think  of  it  we  shall  see  that  in  the  comprehen 
siveness  and  exactness  of  its  setting  forth  of  the 
essential  features  of  our  governmental  structure,  this 
is  a  very  remarkable  production.  The  reader  has 
smiled  at  the  quaint  rudeness  of  the  verses ;  but  if  he 
should  read  them  again,  I  am  in  error  if  he  do  not 
smile  also  in  a  kind  of  admiration  at  the  dexterity 
with  which  the  writer  has  worked  sound  political  and 
moral  truth  into  them.  Such  men  as  this  are  worth 
more  to  a  nation  than  colonels  and  poets.  Such  com 
positions,  coming  from  such  men,  though  falling  short, 
or  shooting  wide  of  a  national  hymn,  show  that  there 
is  an  unuttered  hymn  ever  sounding  in  the  breast  of 
this  nation,  to  embody  which  would  task  the  powers 
of  the  mightiest  poet  that  has  ever  sung. 


VIII. 

"With  the  hymns  sent  to  the  committee,  and  after 
them,  came  many  communications,  some  of  a  few  lines 
and  others  of  pages  in  length.  With  exceedingly  rare 
exceptions,  however,  they  were  of  interest  only  to  the 
writers.  Of  those  exceptions  the  following  letter  from 
"  a  lone  female  "  is  one  of  the  most  noticeable.  It  will 
be  observed  that  publication  is  not  only  permitted  but 
enjoined  by  the  writer.  I  have,  however,  taken  the 
liberty  of  suppressing  her  name  and  address.  The 
letter  has  little  to  do  with  national  hymns ;  but  it  is 
a  most  characteristic  production.  It  is  a  genuine  hand 
ful  of  the  soil  whence  sprout  Bloomers  and  Woman's 
Eights  Conventions. 


CONN.,  J/ay,  1861. 

Maunsell  B  Field  and  others  of  the  National  Hymn  Com 
mittee  New  York  City  God  the  Father  and  Creator  of  all  things 
has  Caused  Me  to  See  a  Notice  in  the  N  York  Tribune  that  you 


144  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

are  a  ,  Committee  to  award  a  prize  of  Five  Hundred  dollars  for 
a  National  Hymn.,, 

The  five  hundred  dollars  is  a  great  inducement  to  those  that 
God  has  given  that  Talent.  The  knowledge  that  God  has 
Created  in  me  is  to  know  how  to  accomplish  the  Mission  of  the 
Saviour  and  bring  Peace  on  Earth  and  Good  will  amongst  Men 
And  the  Committee  knows  that  woman  was  Created  for  a  help 
meet  for  man.  And  woman  does  help  Man  Create  the  family  of 
Man.  But  in  this  Nation  woman  is  Not  allowed  to  help  make 
Laws  to  Govern  what  she  helps  Create.  And  the  Nation  Can 
not  be  Governed  by  righteous  Laws  without  the  knowledge  of 
women  to  help  make  righteous  Laws.  And  I  want  to  ask 
the  Committee  what  is  the  use  of  a  National  Hymn?  where  is 
it  to  be  sung  ?  is  it  to  be  sung  in  the  Churches  or  is  it  to  be  sung 
when  Men  are  going  to  Murder  (war)  and  Make  widows,  and 
orphans,  and  wretchedness,  suffering  and  Death  ?  And  amongst 
the  Names  of  the  Committee  are  some  Noted  great  Men  in  the 
State  of  New  York  the  names  of  Gulian  C  Verplank,  Charles 
King,  Hamilton  Fish,  John  A  Dix,  M.  H.  Grinnell  and  Luther 
Bradish  I  recognise  as  prominent  Men  in  the  political  world 
but  I  do  not  recognise  them  as  Avomans  rights  Men  But  I  now 
appeal  to  them  to  organise  a  Committee  to  Call  a  Convention  in 
N  York  City  to  Devise  Means  to  Save  Gods  Creatures  from  the 
Devises  and  Cruelties  of  Satan  And  woman  Must  take  equal 
rights  in  the  Convention  for  woman  is  equal  with  Man  in 
Creating  the  Family  of  Man  And  woman  is  not  Inferior  to 
Man  in  knowing  what  is  right  and  wrong  and  the  Committee 
knows  that  Murder  (war)  is  wrong  and  the  Committee  knows 
that  Ignominious  Bondage  (Slavery)  is  wrong  and  there  is  other 
Devices  of  Satan  that  is  wrong  and  they  are  too  Numerous  to 
Mention  on  this  sheet  of  Paper  And  if  the  Committee  will  call 
a  Convention  in  the  City  of  New  York  and  extend  the  call  to 
women  to  attend  they  will  then  See  there  is  a  work  for  woman 
to  do  to  Save  Life  and  Sinners  in  this  Life  that  God  the  Saviour 
May  save  them  in  the  Life  to  come  The  Committee  knows 
that  this  Nation  is  frequently  calld  Uncle  Sam,s  Dominion 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  145 

and  Men  have  Yet  to  learn  that  Uncle  Sams,s  Son,s  are  Not 
superior  to  Uncle  Sam,s  Daughters  in  either  knowledge  or 
Goodness  And  the  Goodness  of  God  must  Descend  through 
Uncle  Sam,s  Daughters  so  that  the  Blessing  of  God  can  come  on 
all  kindreds  and  Families  of  this  Earth  And  as  long  as  this 
Nation  is  Governed  without  the  knowledge  of  woman  this  Na 
tion  Cannot  become  a  United  States  and  there  will  be  Crimes 
poverty  wretchedness  and  Deaths  Caused  by  Murder  (war)  and 
other  Devices  of  Satan  And  the  Time  has  arrived  that  there 
Must  be  a  Peaceable  Revolution  that  will  cause  a  Peaceable  Re 
formation  and  have  a  Peaceable  Religion  organisd  and  have  the 
Saviour, s  (Mother)  Church  reorganised  that  must  bend  the 
Strong  Man  (satan)  and  destroy  his  works  And  the  National 
hymn  Committee  Must  disband  and  reorganise  for  a  womans 
rights  Committee  and  select  one  out  of  Uncle  Sam,s  Daughters 
to  Govern  this  Nation  there  are  Many  Names  that  would  not 
disgrace  this  Nation  there  is  Lucretia  Mott  and  Susan  B  Anthor 
ny  and  Elizabeth  Cady  Stan  ton  and  Ernestine  L  Rose  and  others 
too  Numerous  to  Mention  that  are  Not  Inferior  to  their  Siste- 
Victoria  in  either  knowledge  or  Goodness  And  in  this  Nation 
when  the  subject  of  womans  rights  are  to  be  discussed  then 
woman  is  ridiculed  and  denounced  as  Man,s  Inferior  and  there 
are  but  few  that  dare  proclaim  Gods  Truths  and  say  that  woman 
is  not  Inferior  to  Man  And  if  the  National  hymn  Committee 
knows  any  thing  about  Gods  Truths  they  know  that  woman  eat 
of  the  Tree  of  knowledge  as  well  as  Man  And  that  must  teach 
the  Committee  and  other  Great  Men  of  this  Nation  that  the  true 
knowledge  of  God  Must  come  through  the  agency  of  woman  as 
well  as  Man 

And  as  soon  as  the  National  hymn  Committee  reorganise,s  in 
a  womans  rights  Committee  then  they  can  call  a  womans  rights 
Convention  and  the  objects  of  the  Convention  must  be  to  Devise 
Means  to  establish  Peace  on  Earth  and  Good  will  amongst  Men 
And  all  Good  and  Great  Men  Must  greatly  desire  to  See  that 
Great  event  so  that  Men  will  beat  their  swords  Into  plowshares 
and  there  spears  Into  pruning  hooks  and  learn  (Murder)  war  no 

7 


146  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

more  and  live  in  Peace  and  harmony  with  all  Men  And  as  the 
„  hymn  Committee  „  published  „  The  request  of  many  Citizens ,, 
they  must  now  publish  the  request  of  a  lone  Female  that  is 
striving  to  accomplish  the  Mission  of  the  Saviour  and  save  Gods 
Creatures  in  this  Life  from  the  Devises  and  Cruelties  of  Satan 
And  I  now  subscribe  My  Name  J****  Q****  of  Conn  a  Friend 
of  Gods  suffering  Creatures  J  C. 

The  committee  did  not  feel  authorised  to  comply 
with  the  request  of  this  "  lone  female,"  though  they 
sincerely  wished  that  her  woes  might  be  mitigated  by 
the  alleviation  of  her  solitude.  Not,  however,  to 
enter  here  into  discussion  of  the  question  which  the 
fair  writer's  letter  brings  up,  I  will  tell  her  why  one, 
at  least,  of  the  committee  is  not  what  she  calls  a 
woman's  rights  man.  It  is  that,  with  all  respect, 
honor,  and  tenderness  for  the  sex,  he  believes  that  it 
is  in  all  its  characteristic  traits  and  manifestations  so 
different  from  the  other,  that  the  question  of  inferi 
ority  or  superiority,  nay  even  of  equality,  cannot  be 
mooted  between  them  more  reasonably  than  whether  a 
square  is  rounder  than  a  circle,  or  as  round ; — that  when 
the  circle  is  squared  then,  and  not  before,  will  be  settled 
the  question  of  the  relative  importance  of  the  func 
tions  of  man  and  woman  to  the  race ; — and  that 
among  the  peculiar  functions  of  man  is  the  adminis 
tration  of  the  world's  affairs,  because  woman,  with 
all  her  manifold  virtues,  her  loveliness,  her  truth,  her 
bright  intelligence,  her  absolute  self-devotion  to  those 
whom  she  loves — and  whom  if  she  did  not  thus  love 
and  give  herself  up  to,  the  world  would  become  a 
hideous  waste  of  horror,  and  to  none  more  so  than  to 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  147 

her — yet  has,  has  always  had,  and  in  the  very  nature 
of  things  must  ever  have,  such  an  incapacity  to  ap 
prehend  the  fundamental  laws  of  society  and  to  com 
prehend  and  apply  the  principles  of  universal  equity, 
yes  even  of  morality,  such  an  inability  to  guide  herself 
by  the  rules  of  right  reason,  that  if  the  control  of  affairs 
should  pass  into  her  hands,  the  world  would  rush  head 
long  into  barbarism  in  a  single  generation, — that  cata 
strophe  against  which  she  now  opposes  such  a  mighty 
barrier.  Were  woman  placed  in  power,  absolute  justice 
would  soon  be  lost  sight  of,  and  the  law  of  the  strongest 
and  the  cunningest  prevail.  A  woman  despises  the 
very  laws  of  nature  when  they  interfere  with  the  present 
well-being  of  the  man  or  the  child  she  loves,  and 
would  defy  them  if  she  could.  As  it  is,  at  such  times 
she  sits  and  eats  her  heart  in  anguish  that  she  cannot 
turn  back  the  world  upon  its  axis  and  stay  the  stars 
in  their  courses  ;  feeling  the  while  that  it  is  a  personal 
injustice  that  she  is  too  weak  to  undertake  those  tasks. 
This  is  right.  The  work  she  has  to  do  is  to  see  that 
those  she  loves  are  made  happy,  quite  regardless  (in  a 
general  way)  of  the  manner  and  the  reason  of  her 
doing  it;  and  just  in  so  far  as  she  accomplishes  this, 
and  according  to  a  high  standard  of  happiness,  does 
she  best  serve  mankind,  vindicate  her  claim  to  an 
equality  with  man,  and  maintain  her  blessed  influence 
over  him.  But  this  influence  is  vastly  less  than  that 
which  he  exercises  over  her.  He  is  morally  respon 
sible  for  her ;  for  she  is  always  morally,  almost  men 
tally,  just  what  he  would  have  her  be.  This  is  the 
law  of  her  nature ;  the  only  law  which  in  her  inmost 


i48  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

soul  she  really  respects ;  and  even  that  respect  she  will 
not  own.  She  stands  breast-high  to  man  ;  and  all 
her  thought  cannot  add  a  cubit  to  her  stature. 

The  letters  of  few  of  the  competitors  were  as 
interesting  as  Miss  J.  C.'s ;  but  not  a  few  of  them  were 
amusing  exhibitions  of  the  confident  expectations  of 
their  writers.  Some  were  accompanied  with  curt  and 
clear  directions  as  to  where  a  check  for  Five  Hundred 
Dollars  might  be  sent.  Others  were  in  the  following 
style.  With  a  song  beginning 

u  Our  banner,  our  banner,  long  may  it  wave  o'er  us ! 
And  the  bird  of  our  freedom  long  fly  on  before  us !" 

came  the  frank  admission,  "  As  I  cannot  conceive  any 
thing  more  suitable  than  the  above,  please  send  along 
the  rocks,  I  have  no  use  for  medals."  Another  mo 
destly  adds  at  the  bottom  of  a  song  much  of  the  same 
quality,  "I  should  prefer  a  medal  to  the  money." 
Another  sends  an  effusion  of  which  the  following  is 
the  first  stanza  : — 

NATIONAL  HYMN. 

Great  land  of  Freemen,  brave  and  true ! 
The  land  that's  left  to  me  and  you — 
All  nations  seek  thy  sacred  shore — 
The  "  wished-for  "  shore  in  days  of  yore. 
The  precious  blood  of  fathers  slain 
Was  treasured  in  the  earth  like  rain 
And  brought  forth  fruit ; — and  lo !  we  see 
And  taste — and  feel  and  know  we're  free. 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  149 

and  winds  up  with  this  announcement,  "  1ST.  B.  Prize 
or  no  prize,  I  am  not  ashamed  of  these  lines."  But  the 
wit  of  all  these  gentlemen  was  not  concentrated  with 
in  such  brevity.  They  expatiated  upon  the  beauties 
of  their  bantlings,  and  skilfully  managed  to  work  in 
a  general  puff  of  themselves — as  for  instance : — 

— "  The  words  and  music  are  both  by  me,  and  I  think  that 
according  to  esthetics  they  are  equal,  even  if  not  superior  to  my 
other  works,  which  have  attained  the  most  brilliant  success.  I 
might  improve  it  should  you  award  me  the  prize,  as  every  author 
can  even  in  the  case  of  his  finest  works.  The  music  is  perhaps 
better  than  the  words.  It  is  bold  and  grand,  somewhat  in  the 
style  of  "God  Save  the  king,"  although,  as  you  will  see, 
nothing  like  it." 

The  committee  did  see  that  it  was  not  at  all  like 
"  God  Save  the  King."  Comparison,  however,  they 
were  not  always  called  upon  to  make.  Some  com 
petitors  spoke  in  the  positive  mood.  Ecce  Signum. 

The  " "  is  a  splendid  production  in  rhyme — measure — senta- 

ment — and  rounded  numbers — with  an  instructive  national  moral 
— the  plot  is  well  laid — revised  corrected  and  polished  by  thought 

and  reflection Just  such  as  the  nation  needs  at  this  time — 

simple  and  easy  of  utterans — sings  well  and  is  liked  by  the 
ladys — it  has  been  tryed  by  an  organest  and  pronounced  tiptop 
— The  tune  is  not  to  be  dispised  for  its  name  it  will  swell  out 
like  majestic  thunder  through  the  keys  of  an  organ  and  move 
the  heart  of  devotion  by  its  melody — The  committee  should  se 
cure  all  of  the  rite  to  publish  all  of  the  hymns  they  would  be 
quite  a  treet  to  conosiers  of  the  music  art !  publish  them  all 
Pray  do  Pray  do. 

The  reader  of  the  foregoing  pages  does  not  need  to 


150  NATIONAL  HYMNS. 

be  told  why  this  request,  which  was  made  with  equal 
earnestness  on  all  sides,  is  not  complied  with ;  and 
he  may  think  that  even  the  limited  selection  which 
has  been  made  from  the  productions  of  the  class 
which  the  petitioner  represents  might  well  have 
been  abbreviated ;  while  there  are  probably  at  least 
a  thousand  people  in  the  land  each  one  of  whom 
has  a  profound  conviction  that  a  previous  section  of 
our  libel*  might  have  been  well  increased  by  the 
addition  of  one  song,  which  shall  be  nameless.  The 
opinion  is  perhaps  natural ;  it  is  at  least  pardonable ; 
and  in  some  instances  it  may  possibly  be  correct. 
Each  competitor  who  has  looked  in  vain  through  this 
booklet  for  that  song  which  a  circle  of  admiring,  but 
strictly  impartial,  nay,  look  you,  rather  envious, 
friends  had  deemed  surely  worthy  of  the  prize — good 
at  sight  for  two  hundred  and  fifty,  if  not  five  hundred 
dollars — to  say  nothing  of  the  opinion  of  a  certain 
person  of  fine  natural  taste  and  abilities,  whose  repu 
tation  is  not  quite  so  high  as  it  deserves  to  be,  and 
who  had  so  often  scrutinised  it,  without  the  slightest 
prejudice,  and  had  yet  been  led  to  the  same  conclu 
sion—every  such  competitor  has  an  undeniable  right 
to  believe  that  that  is  the  much-needed  song,  which 
by  some  oversight,  or  through  the  dulness  of  the 
committee,  was  ruthlessly  basketed,  and  would  have 
been  irretreviably  lost  to  the  world,  were  it  not  for 
the  wise  precaution  to  which  that  carefully  preserved 

*  Libellus,  a  little  book.     The  word  is  used,  of  course,  only  in  that 


NATIONAL  HYMNS.  151 

and  oft  perused  copy  (which  luckily  can  yet  be  found) 
was  due.  The  others,  of  course,  only  met  the  fate 
which  their  writers,  if  they  had  possessed  the  least 
spark  of  modesty  or  self  appreciation,  might  have  ex 
pected  for  them.  Because  a  national  song  is  the  pro 
duct  of  peculiar  circumstances,  and — dont  you  see  ?— 
of  peculiar  qualifications, — not  necessarily  great,  mind 
you,  but  peculiar ;  and  is  not  something  to  be  written 
by  anybody  and  everybody,  and  to  be  made  up  of  a 
certain  number  of  rhyming  lines  about  waving  ban 
ners  and  spread  eagles, — and  with  a  mercenary  motive 
too.  It  must  come  warm  from  the  heart  as  that  one 
did ;  and  it  must  speak  directly  to  the  heart  of  the 
people  as  that  one  would  speak,  were  it  only  allowed 
to  be  heard ;  and  it  must  embody  great  sentiments 
common  to  the  whole  nation  in  strong  and  simple 
language  as  that  one  did — simple,  you  know,  because 
that  one  was  written  by  a  person  who  don't  make  pre 
tensions  to  be  literary,  whatever  he  might  do ;  and 
such  a  song  would  have  been  sure  to  get  the  prize  if 
there  were  any  taste  or  any  justice  in  the  world. 

O  incensed  competitor,  you  are  right.  Such  a 
song  as  that  would  surely  have  taken  the  prize,  if  it 
had  been  found  among  the  twelve  hundred.  That 
the  song  you  wot  of  was  awarded  neither  the  five 
hundred  dollars,  nor  a  place  where  you  sought  it,  must 
be  because  either  it  was  not  such  a  song,  or  the  com 
mittee  to  whom  it  was  voluntarily  submitted  had  not 
the  ability  to  perceive  that  it  was.  In  either  of  which 
cases — don't  you  see  ? — you  have  no  right  to  complain 
at  all  about  the  matter.  And  as  to  anything  that  has 


152 


NATIONAL  HYMNS. 


been  said  in  this  dissertation  upon  the  subject  of  national 
hymns  in  general,  or  any  hymn  in  particular,  your 
capacity  to  write  a  national  hymn  will  best  appear  by 
your  preservation  of  a  discreet  silence.  For  there  is 
not  a  cap  between  these  covers  that,  except  it  is 
already  labelled,  the  world  will  know  fits  you,  unless 
you  publicly  put  it  on. 


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DEC   2    1946 


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